So I know this is the time of year when many homeschoolers start to wonder what they were thinking and find themselves gazing longingly at the schoolbus as it goes by... but even though I know the February Slump is coming, it hasn't yet failed to send me into a spiral of self-doubt.
Neither of my kids wants to go to school, but they don't particularly like doing anything at home that looks too much like schoolwork. When I insist, I feel like a taskmaster and I worry that our relationship only consists of me trying to get them to do things they don't want to do. When I relax, I feel like a lazy schlep and I worry that I'm setting them up with a poor work ethic or failing to develop their talents, intellectual and otherwise. They never complain of boredom and their #1 choice for free time is active and imaginative play together, like building obstacle courses with couch cushions. They're both well ahead of grade level in most areas and definitely not behind in any (yet).
DD8 used to say math was her favorite (when she was enrolled in public school K, accelerated to 1st grade math), now she says she hates math and never does it without many complaints and at least a few tears, so obviously I'm doing something wrong.
Do you think we should be more relaxed or self-directed? Or should I insist that X number of assignments must be completed each week, or else. (...and "or else" what??) Days like this, I just feel like I'm not cut out for this.
