A downside to homeschooling for me-knowing when to stop. I don’t mean when to stop the art of homeschooling. I mean when you can punch out for the day like a public or private school teacher can. I could teach 12 hours a day if I wanted to because there’s no boundary or endpoint as in a normal job. That freedom can help you or cause you anxiety. I’ll give you an example…My kids are somewhat limited on how much TV they can watch. I usually offer other options such as asking them to read or play a game or go outside and play. Sitting in front of mindless television shows just hits me the wrong way. That’s likely me just not being able to turn off my homeschooling switch. And, in the back of my mind I know that at that very same moment there are thousands, likely more, of parents around the world who aren’t letting their children sit in front of the tv but are instead having a teaching moment with their kids. And, they want their kids to take our kids’ seats at our universities. It’s a real challenge for me to find that balance. Or maybe the question is, “Should I?” We’ve dumbed everything down for our kids, including their playtime, so I’m not so sure that I should feel guilty about raising the bar a bit. I don’t know…You should be in my head!
Tonight, I actually let my kids watch a movie after dinner (after eating our picnic salad on the floor). You know what they watched? “Donald in MathMagic Land”. I had just ordered the video from Amazon. The kids actually loved this older Disney movie, and I didn’t feel so guilty about their movie watching time.