Finally. It is such a relief. We are done for the year. Star's work is in the mail to here & we can give our attention to more important things: the art exhibition; the Gothic; the cats. Definitely the cats.
It has been an incredibly difficult year. I find year 10 is like that ~ especially for concrete learners. They have to see how everything applies to life as they live it ~ & as most schooling isn't & doesn't it becomes a battle royal. Thanks to the vagaries of the Queensland educational system the kids are too young to throw to the employment wolves & too old to tell, "Just suck it up, baby!" Yeah.
So while I was thinking thoughts unmentionable about Star & her appalling attitude to anything remotely academic I happened to trail into the garage after some engine oil & caught the tail end of the teller's conversation with her daughter.
"No. You can not come home. No. You can not leave school. No. I told you not to ring & ask..." Catching my giggle she rolled her eyes & said, "We do this every Wednesday..." So, it could be worse. The child could actually be in school ~ & nothing changes except I lose the modicum of control I actually have! Any day of the week the local mall is swarming with bored kids who have just walked out of their classes. I need to bear that in mind. Truly, there's a reason we homeschool & it has nothing whatsoever to do with academic outcomes!
I love my child. She is wonderful & witty & funny & she is incredible about helping run this house. She is always happy & smiling [unless someone inadvertently mentions the M word [math] ] ~ & even better she is kind & caring but no amount of trying is going to turn my pig's ear into a silk purse. What's more I figure we've done pretty well. Her math is better than mine. She reads voraciously & has an extensive vocabulary. She writes well. She just needs a proper purpose in order to do all these things. In my perfect world that would happen. We don't get to have a perfect world. What we now get to do is something real. Something incredibly exhausting that requires loads of patience & more loads of hard work ~ something that assures me that when it comes to reality my ditzy daughter has a really, really good grasp on the niceties of life.
14 comments:
fingers crossed for what Rebekah will be like in year 10:)
I think you said it all - you and her have done very well to get her to where she is right now! good on you, time to pat your back:)
She also happens to look exactly like you!!
Congrats on finishing. Friday for us. Can't wait. Yippee!!
joyfulmum: Your Rebekah will be just fine. ☺ She has you. I just got a child exactly like me in ways that make me go, "Ouch!"
Jeanne: Why thank you, m'am. ☺ I think my Star is beautiful so that is a real compliment! lol We had no choice. The Gothic is about to consume us. Deep Breath...
Yippee!!!!
Good for you girls. My guys and I will plod until the 24th (Presentation Night) though we have all our work return stuff done. They just cannot afford too much time off from the drills at this early stage. But our days this week have been low key and enjoyable and we have been out and about as well.
Thinking of you as you go into overdrive with the production and hope it all goes REALLy well!
Though I didn't think so as much when we met, you two do look a lot alike in those pictures above.
P.S. Love the top quote, any acknowledgement for that?
Year 10 for my youngest was not a good year as this was the year we had problems with bullying. But most years have been tough and I will he glad when he finally finishes as school has been like climbing a mountain.
Ruby: I hope it goes well. It is a massive performance. The site I got the quote gave no acknowledgement so I can't either. Pity. It's rather a good quote.
I won't tell Star everyone thinks we look alike. ;P She'd be horrified.
Jo: We did really, really well up until high school. The hormones seem to have addled the girl's brain or something. Anyway we are nearly done & given the mess the schools made of my boys we can't possibly be doing worse.
I have got the perfect plan! I will move to Australia now and move back here when school starts there and the rest of year will be vacation time here or there....Yeah! That will effective wipe out teaching math and thrill my daughter to no end. (Oops! I probably should have warned you not to let Star read over your shoulder.)
You did so well to get it all done - because you've kept a lot of other plates spinning too. x
Seeking: sounds like a plan to me. ☺ Save on hassling skype.
Ember: hm, yes, the other plates were why we were behind...what can I say? Organization is not my forte!
Jo your comment reminds me of The Climb song by Hannah Montana.
My girls are still going along in Year 11 and Year 8. One has a teacher who is monitoring the work she hasn't finished and she has been staying behind most nights to catch up, which is fantastic, giving advice on what to tackle next. They must be determined, because my Year 8 daughter finally is making sense about her work and doing some at night. We have been helped our uni son who has exams soon. But I can really relate to that conversation you heard. My husband was talking to his sister and heard problems that make it hard for her daughter to be in school. Tricky. Mine is shopping, I have definitely let the plate drop letting my girls come shopping, maybe I should make the drive on Saturdays, I'm not sure.
Congratulations, another year down. Love the quote and I'll tell you every year I honestly do not know how to carry on. Then every year I remember all the non-academic reasons we are home educating too and plod through as we must some days, but all in all, in the end we end up like cats, standing on our feet even when we fall! Ditz is a beauty...
"So while I was thinking thoughts unmentionable about Star & her appalling attitude to anything remotely academic"
Once again the similarities between Star and Amelia confront me head-on... and between you and me as well;-} I am so so glad I am done with her schooling. Of course now I have Noah coming along and that task has a whole new landscape of uncharted shoals to navigate.. sigh... This whole mothering gig has great potential for a whole lotta very uncomfortable self-realization, doesn't it?
How have you been anyways?? My profoundest apologies for being MIA of late. Can you ever forgive me?♥
LInda: There was a great deal of wisdom in putting kids to work earlier. Very, very few are actually academically inclined. Anyone who has sat in a highschool classroom recently would realise most of them shouldn't be there & would be better of employed in a trade or something equally constructive & very hands on. It drives me batty but no~one's listening to me & our *smart state* govt., has just extended school hours yet again! Duh!
Jan Lyn: I tend to forget the non~academic reason for worry about the academics ~ but we were never homeschooling for academic reasons though despite everything our children have done much, much better at home with us than in the schools ~ yes, despite all the drama & angst.
Diane: ♥ Amelia is wonderful. Star is wonderful. I am the bookish sort. My children do my head in.
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