Two Days
"I will attempt, day by day, to break my will into pieces. I want to do God's Holy Will, not my own!" – St. Gabriel Possenti
And there are times, daily times, ordinary times, when doing God's will is doing just that...just the ordinary.
Unschooling this week has been ordinary and far from ordinary.
And I strive to balance my paid work, that which I do for the good of the family, with my work as a mother of young adults and a Homeschooling mother, responsible for an unschooling fifteen year old. Because although we might not be doing school we are educating. And kids, homeschooled kids, even home schooled teens, need time.
So, I try to break my will into pieces. And enjoy our unschooling days.
Two different days.
One a day of outings...upon my return from morning work, we discuss the saint for the day and the day's events. Let's go to the city!
I take my iPad for I know that I have work for Kumon. The kids read... talk... and listen to music in the car. We walk through Hyde Park, heads down, hoods on, hands in pockets, slumped against the rain. We split up..two of us to a bookstore, two to look at clothes, one to wander on his own. I check out perfumes on the way..
I work , sitting amongst books at the bookstore. I have a long telephone conference call. I look briefly at two books with a son and we all gather again for lunch in a food court. And discussion.
It is this discussion that educates. Be it on our morning, our books, our thoughts, our food.
Before we rush home. Me to afternoon work and some of the kids to finish decorating our Hat Cake.
And our outings close with Mass and the St Anthony novena.
The next day is different. More at home.
Perhaps more ordinary.
But unschooling is never really ordinary.
I work morning and afternoon shifts. One son works. One son teaches guitar in the evening, to students at their house and to his younger brother and a friend at our house. Another son takes the youngest and friends to drama class, and picks them up again. I teach Catechism to year two in the local school...and so results a discussion on the beatitudes and on being nice, that ubiquitous nice. Over coffee with a visitor.
And card games. And writing. And reading. And junk mail delivery. And mum cooks a late dinner after work, to have over episodes of Merlin with a friend.
Two days. Different. But oriented towards the day by day. That is what makes a life. An education. Day by day. Little by little.
5 comments:
Sounds like a decent day and then some. I don't know why people spaz out of you don't do "schoolish" stuff all day. How much do you remember from 12 years of public school, aside from boredom in class and fun with friends, anyway??
You would have loved Bishop Elliott's homily at Confirmation: "As Catholic we are not called to be nice (with exaggerated Aussie accent) but called to be GOOD!"
Fr B
Lisa, very true!!
Father, I'm with the Bishop! And C S Lewis. If the curriculum and some homilies had their way... We would all be nice, not worry about being good or the state of our souls or even about Christ!
I love that you always split up your weeks nicely between social activities, work and education. I remember when I first met your family (lo, all those many years ago!), I had such a hard time understanding how you guys did it - how you parented such happy, well-rounded, educated and genuinely lovely children all at home. In fact, I am still in awe!
I recall it being so odd to my thirteen-year-old self, that the boys could learn, socialise, relax and work, seemingly without any effort, and still excel in all those areas! (Once again, it is still a source of much amazement on my part). I suppose it's because I grew up knowing nothing but go-to-school-every-weekday-and-that's-that. There was no alternative.
I have always admired how you find that great balance between everything, for yourself and your sons. I have not yet been able to achieve the same for myself...and that's just for one person! Haha.
Wow, thank you ! But to be completely honest, I don't often or always find that balance!
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