Homeschool (Teacher) Makeover

  I’ve been on a mission lately.  I noticed my ‘classroom’ needed a face-lift.  Not the plainly visible, furniture and curtains kind.  No, I mean the deep-down, heart of the matter kind.  Bee is, after all, the reason I made the plunge into homeschooling.  Her unique, ADHDish learning style demanded a different kind of educational environment.  Unfortunately, I find myself battling my own very traditional, classroom-minded, worksheet-loving self.  So I’m on a mission to be something that doesn’t come naturally to me… FUN! 

No, I’m not naturally fun.  I really never was a kid when I was a kid.   I’d watch my sisters play with My Little Ponies and try to participate in their involved plot lines to no avail.  My favorite Christmas gifts were not toys but a sewing machine and ‘real’ desk set complete with blotter, personalized memo notes, paper clips and rubber bands. When I was Bee’s age, I was teaching myself algebra from a text book I found laying around, not toting baby dolls and stuffed animals around.  In so many ways I just don’t get her.  She has an amazing, inspiring, creative, unique, quirky… SPARK that I envy.  The very same spark that I’m killing with my teaching style. 

So, I’ve gotten a bunch of books from the library and I’m trying to learn how to be fun.   So far all I’ve got is my own version of “If You’re Happy and You Know It” titled “If You’re Happy That You’re Homeschooled.”  I’ve pulled it out a few times now when I got the sour face about yet another Math worksheet. Wow.  I gotta  looong way to go!