Thoughts for the week:There are homeschool blogger awards going on and here are my thoughts on them: anything that further divides and isolates a group of people that should be uniting and supporting each is not a good thing. At first I was disappointed that our blog doesn't qualify for a variety of reasons (though the fact that I am writing from "Mars" may have got me at least nominated in the geography category), I was then mad about other parts of it. The hostility and further division of our growing, yet still small, community is not good. One of the problems that we have with labeling the kind of schooling we do or don't do is that it further others us from the community, we're not radical enough or not normal enough or not religious enough or too religious or or or....we, as all families, are unique. Labels are the first step in othering.
That said, I am seeing similar things happening locally and to the children of some families. We talk good talk about becoming an individual and celebrating what makes us unique, but when it comes down to it a certain level of conformity is still expected. Guess what I think about that? In my daughter's wise words: boo boo to them. I have boundaries, I stand up for them, but I can still accept people as friends who are way different from me, even disagree with me on key issues, to a rational extent. I'm not passive about it either. But I am 30 and watching children explore this dynamic is heartbreaking, even when it is not my own.
On a totally unrelated note: we are all still sick. It has been almost two full weeks that the evil snots and fatigue and off and on fever have ransacked our happy home. Now it's a cough. Something must give. Why is it that wee tots can still have the energy to run and run and jump and jump and tear apart a clean room in a single bound....while they are dripping with snot sick? I can barely lift my weary, nauseous, pregnant self off the couch to turn off the hated Barney and she is feverish, yet dancing and tearing it up old school.
It must be an Iowa thing. The kids got sick two weeks ago and I got it the begining of the week. Two of the kids still have icky coughs...and you know my "rememdy" for coughing...LOL. Hope you all get to feeling better.
ReplyDeleteI so hear what you're saying in this post. Many times I even catch myself with thoughts like, "Well, they're not REALLY unschoolers," and then smack myself and wonder where on earth that came from.
ReplyDeleteYou're correct that labeling is the beginning of a long, treacherous path to isolationism and I do not want to contribute or be a part of that in any way. One of the things that drew me to homeschooling in the first place was the diversity I saw when researching it on the internet. Thanks for this post, friend. It has sent me to a place of deep contemplation.
Side note, I truly hope you're feeling better soon. Being pregnant and having a cold is definitely one of the more miserable experiences one can have and I'm really sorry that you're having to endure it. Hope you get well quickly!
Evie
We have been ill as well. I've been congested for about 2 weeks, now I can't stop coughing. DH is about a week behind me, and DS just started with a sore throat and lots of sinus drainage yesterday afternoon. Fun times.
ReplyDeleteI've had 9 people cancel appointments the last 2 weeks because they were sick.