Change of Seasons

And by the way, when people – mostly women, and mostly women with children, natter on about accepting a different “season” of life, for some unreasonable reason, it makes me want to punch someone. So, sure. go ahead. Have at me!

But, hey, it is a decent play on words. This time.

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The change might not appear drastic to you, but to me, it’s sort of ….drastic.

Here, try this one:

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I finally acknowledged reality and did a serious clean-out of what had evolved into the Science Corner and the Art Corner of our front room – where most of the homeschool books and other materials have been kept over the past few years.

The reality to be acknowledged and admitted? Those days are over. Not the homeschooling days, period, in toto, but the days when homeschooling meant “doing fun projects and experiments at home” – “fun” being of course, relative to whom was declaring it and hearing it declared.

For when all you’ve got left is an almost 16-year old who’d rather be on his bike, is doing a science class elsewhere and will probably be taking college classes next year and whose artistic outlet is his music …

….yeah, you can ditch the random chemicals and pipettes and oil pastels. And don’t give into the temptation to think, I might still make something with this someday….

Not going to happen. Just admit it.

Sure, I kept the glue gun and various other useful tools – don’t get rid of your glue gun! – but almost everything else, except some markers, colored pencils and the microscope (which still gets used when, for example, feathers or interesting dead bugs are found) – is bagged up and will be passed on to another homeschooling family tomorrow.

I’m not one to hang on, yearning for a particular stage of growing-up to never end. When your oldest is 38 years old, you had best be long over that temptation, or no one will ever come to visit you, probably.

But yes, scooping all that up and packing it to leave the house does make me a little wistful. I entered homeschooling unwillingly, but also enthusiastically, if that makes sense. Basically: I really don’t want to, but if we’re going to do this, we are going to do it right and show those stupid schools what’s possible. Like many of you, I had that experience of spending hours, late into the night, researching, researching and researching even more with a combination of excitement, engagement and usually, finally – despair, amiright?

But we plunge through and emerge on the other side full of ideas, projects, games, mini-courses, living books and lists for the library and Michael’s, full of optimism and high expectations.

And, as per usual with life, the high expectations aren’t reached, but on the way, different milestones and moments stand out, and something – something – was learned by all.

So to go through those wicker drawers and pull out the paints and oil pastels that were carefully chosen but then barely used, to thumb through the notebooks with the first three pages faithfully and cleverly written in and the rest absolutely blank, to toss the tubing and pipettes that were used once in a bag and discover the Gallium I completely forgot I’d purchased – evokes both gratitude and regret. It’s a reminder of good times, high hopes and a nagging suspicion that no, I didn’t do all I could, but I did try and hopefully didn’t do too much damage.

(We’ll keep the Gallium, btw. 16-year olds will still get a kick out of that, at least.)

There’s the introduction, then, to This Week in the Homeschool. What’s the sophomore doing?

• Math: Algebra II, with a tutor. Meeting once a week during the day at this point, might kick it up to twice a week once things get more complicated. It’s going fine. She works with him for an hour, gives him homework, which we either take a picture of and text back to her or drop off at the school in which she teaches if we’re back in the neighborhood.
• Science: Chemistry at the local Catholic homeschool co-op, instructor is a Ph.D. from a local university. Once a week until November, break, then continuing in January for another 12 weeks. Two classes so far, seems to be going fine.
• Spanish: On his own. I’m not sure what he’s doing except watching videos about mapaches and tacos. No, seriously, he does use a textbook and a Great Courses Spanish II class. He claims that when his native-speaker (mostly Mexican) friends speak to their families and each other he can understand them perfectly. I guess I believe him.
• Latin: Latin II, Latin for the New Millenium. Mostly worked out between us, and things are definitely looking up because the hellscape of the subjunctive is almost behind us. I mean – it will always be with us, but learning it for the first time is almost over. Occasional meetings with a tutor.
• History: On his own. He’s working his way through ancient Greek history at the moment, reading and watching a Great Courses course. As I have said many times, he has a very good grasp of the Big Picture, appropriate to his level, and so is free to explore whatever area he chooses in depth.
• Literature: American Literature, directed by me, who actually made out a detailed syllabus and everything. We are almost done with pre-Revolutionary times. So far, he’s read excerpts from Verrazzano, de Vaca, Champlain, John Smith, William Bradford, John Winthrop, Roger Williams and Anne Bradstreet, with Mary Rowlandson’s narrative of her captivity this week, then Cotton Mather and Jonathan Edwards next, and then wrapping it up with de Crevecoeur and Phillis Wheatley. Then on to Franklin, Paine, Jefferson, Federalist Papers, etc.

This is the primary text.

At the same time, he’s reading The Scarlet Letter. Finishing it up by next Monday. He reads, we discuss. I’m using these questions as a guide – he has to be able to answer all of them in discussion, and I mark five or so for each chunk of reading that he answers in writing.

I’m contemplating what longer works to use next. We might just do The Last of the Mohicans.

• Music : Same as I’ve been telling you for a while. Mostly Beethoven and Gershwin with, of course, antiphons for Mass and short organ preludes and postludes. (still no congregational singing at the parish in which he plays).

Some day things will open again and we’ll perhaps even get to the theater.

Literature Supplement:

Before we read Bradstreet, we read Sally Thomas’ introductory chapter on “How to Read a Poem” from Thirty Poems to Memorize (Before It’s Too Late) – a book we’ll be using all year and beyond.

Read Bradstreet, and then took some time with Dylan Thomas’ Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night – it plays a big part in the movie Interstellar, which we watched last week (him for the second time, me for the first), so it made sense to read, talk about it and then listen to various readings – most notably fellow-Welshman-to-Thomas Richard Burton.

And then today, the day after the Autumn Equinox, we got in the spirit by reading To Autumn by Keats, listening to another reading on YouTube, discussing it and reading a bit of analysis.

History Supplement: Surprise, surprise, earlier this week, we talked about…. the American judicial system, the process for selecting a Supreme Court justice, and so on.

Yes, the felt and petri dishes may be gone, but the Teachable Moments remain!