End of the Rainy Season

Rainy season is coming to an end, 

and our days are looking more and more like this:

Lu's been spending lots of time in the carpentry workshop,

and recently learned how to make 'empanadas'.

We learned all about the Nitrogen and Carbon Cycles.

 There's a Chess Club starting in town!

 We have a new, homemade ping-pong table!

It's still missing a proper net, 

but that hasn't stopped Lu and friends from playing,

with some Twister breaks in between matches :)

Trust

We're finishing up our fourth year homeschooling,
and I realized a couple of important things this week.

1. I am not worried about my son's education anymore.

That means I don't worry about "how" we homeschool, our grade level, what he "should" be learning, "if" he's learning, if it's "enough", or if we're homeschooling the "right" way.

2. We don't fight anymore.

Where as we always used to fight about something or other, and have daily homeschool drama about this or that, Lu and I hardly ever have school-related arguments now. And I think I know why.

Here's Lu and Cha replacing the roof over my windows:

I have learned to trust 

in Lu's natural desire to learn.

Here's Lu making tortillas with his Mayan language teacher:

When I learned to trust in this, everything flowed SO much better.

For instance, we took yoga for a month because Lu was interested.

 But now he wants to do some strength training instead.

I'm interested in him learning about his body,

enjoying exercise, and getting into healthy habits.

And he is!

And letting him be in charge of "how" to do it,

makes all the difference in his motivation.

We *do* set goals and commitments though.

So, if he chooses something after trying it,

he needs to commit to a certain time - 

usually a month, or a semester.

And I won't say that I never do any pushing.

I do. A little. When needed. Like a coach.

Or a cheerleader.

But it's SO much easier now that all of these

decisions are made together.

Instead of typing, Lu asked to have weekly times for chess.

I want him to type. And he will type.

But sure, we can interchange typing and chess sometimes.

Chess is great too, 

even though I don't know how to play,

and don't want to learn.

I have a thing against Monopoly too.

War and capitalism themes, not really my cup of tea.

But Lu likes chess, and it's good for his brain.

He LIKES it and it makes him happy.

And the more we fill our days with things we truly enjoy,

the happier we all are. Obviously.

  

So, there is definitely a connection between my two realizations.

I don't worry anymore, and we don't fight anymore.

Worrying made me inflexible, and inflexibility made us fight.

It all boils down to trusting that we all WANT to learn,

especially those things that fascinate us, are fun,

or help us get to where we want to go.

Trust.

There are things that are very important to *me* that we cover,

but I am forcing myself to narrow them down 

to no more than three per year.

No more than two hours a day.

Math, Science, and History have been, and will continue to be

my priorities in our education, but the rest will be up to Lu.

And if one of the subjects I choose is as unattractive to Lu

as chess is to me, we can skip it.

Even if it were math.

And I hope Lu doesn't read this post, 

because he's got a really good math head...

but I also TRUST that he will choose to continue

his math learning.

Lu's math skills are already better than mine were 

four years ago when I started relearning them with him.

So...

Who knows where Lu's interests might take him.

The options are infinite.