Tag Archives: olympic

Waxing and Waning in my opinions

My oldest son hates to write. No matter what the topic or exercise is, he just does whatever he needs to do to simply get through it. I’ve tried all kinds of tactics and approaches and continue to go at it from different angles. Bottom line is that he simply does not enjoy it. My recurring statement: He’s just not wired that way. See below for his personal reflection on today’s writing assignment. He constructed his reflection after he’d written a paragraph on computers. Of course, I cringe when I see and hear how much he hates the writing process, because I know that being a good writer is an asset to have in your back pocket. I told him that it’s important to be a good writer, since he will have to write a quality essay on his SAT. Now, after I’d thought about my words, later, I felt myself become a little nauseous by those spoken words. I thought, “Is this really what education is all about? To spend years preparing  them for a test in hopes that they get in to a top tier school?” I find myself going back and forth with the rat race. I see the benefits of getting into let’s say an Ivy League school: connections and name-dropping. But, beyond that, is it worth making our kids crazy in their high school years trying to get that admittance letter? The rat race has nothing to do with true learning, does it? Would our children’s time be better spent with lots of free time, exploration, searching for answers to questions, and having internship-type environments? I drive myself nutty going back and forth on this one, because I truly don’t know.

Today-Academics until 3:00, oldest son attended science class on pond ecology from 3:30-5:00, drove almost an hour to soccer facility, middle son in soccer training from 6:15-8:30ish. Kids in bed around 10:30. Now, it’s almost 1 a.m., and I’m done..

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Wrapping up and moving forward

The weekend came and went too fast, as always.  I think many families feel this way these days.  Saturdays and Sundays are simply just a continuation of the taxi-driving and calendar events. It’s all self-induced so I can’t complain, but it’s still frustrating to see on Sunday night the mess in my closet, for example, still remains a huge mess.  Things just don’t simply get addressed because there aren’t enough hours in the day.

At present, I’m regrouping for the week, and I can already see that our academics will need to be adjusted because of outside activities.  That takes some mental gymnastics on my part to see that I adjust our calendar appropriately.

It’s interesting. I was talking with a retired kindergarten teacher today, and she was asking me various questions about homeschooling such as how do I know what needs to be covered and how do I juggle all the various curricula. I could tell my world was completely foreign to her, so I invited her to come over and see what we’re doing.  I gladly welcome another set of eyes on our environment as you never know what good feedback you might get. Of course, I told her what I do is not easy at all, but it is doable.  She then went on to talk about how many public school teachers, who really love teaching, are so frustrated by all of the rules being forced onto them.  The regulations and bureaucracy are taking the joy out of teaching for them.  She also mentioned one of her girlfriends who is still teaching just simply wants to quit because of the mess that they’re having to work in.

Isn’t that awful? That our society has degraded the training of our children to sets of rules, boundaries, and tests is so unfortunate. No wonder kids don’t want to go to school.  Our system is broken, really beyond repair.  I don’t think any amount of government intervention is going to help and will likely only make it worse.

Well, now that we are all depressed, let me leave you to get pumped up about tomorrow. Gotta keep my own energy going since I’m flying solo:)

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US Sailing junior Olympic regatta in Northeast Harbor

Last day on MDI. Had the opportunity to watch a bit of the Junior olympic sailing regatta in Northeast Harbor. Sailing is such a great sport for youth to learn. A lot of work, but there’s something special about commanding a boat in the open water. Reminds me of Jesus with his disciples..

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