News From Hawkhill Acres

If I had a dollar for every time someone asks me that question, I could send my kids to a private school. But I wouldn’t, because my kids don’t go to school, which is why so many people ask me that question. My kids learn at home. Sometimes, I help them learn. Sometimes, they learn on their own. Sometimes, they learn from other people, like our neighbor who taught them how to find moose scrapings on a tree and then went on to teach them some very colorful language when he stepped in moose poop with his new boots.

In the first place, we don’t stay home all the time. We visit friends, go to the library often, visit museums, stores, attend cultural events, concerts and community gatherings. Both of my kids have been to a Town Meeting, which is how we do gov’mint in our little town. They go with me when I vote and even advise me. They’re privy to the outbursts I often have when I read the paper after lunch, so they know a lot about current events.

They meet people they’d never meet in school, like the woman who tools around town on her battery powered scooter chair, with her little dog in the basket. My daughter is a fool for animals, so she and the woman always have a long conversation while the dog gets petted and admired. This gives the woman a chance to interact with another animal lover and helps my daughter learn about life from someone who has a very different perspective from most people’s.

Grocery shopping is probably the best math class my kids could ever have. They always want something that doesn’t fit into the budget, so I let them get something along the same lines, but cheaper. They’re old hands at looking at unit prices and figuring out how much something costs if it’s “15% off”. I admit that algebra is a bit more challenging, but my son downloaded an e-book for free and it covered the subject much better than the textbook he had at school. Plus, he did it at his own pace without the distraction of twenty other kids talking and throwing pencils at the back of his head. (True, his cat was batting pencils around the room from time to time, but he’s learned to filter that out.)

Most of my friends think I'm crazy and ask me how I can stand to be with my kids all day. They wonder how I can put up with not having any time for myself. I wonder why they think I can't have time for myself unless my kids are in school. I mean, attachment parenting is a good thing, but you usually don't keep them in the sling after they're five or so, yanno?

Do I ever worry that my kids aren’t getting the education their peers are getting? Well, sometimes, but not for more than a few seconds. Most of the time I’m glad they’re not getting that kind of education. When my 16 yr old son sits and reads with me at night or asks his 9 yr old sister if she wants to play Pokemon with him, even though he’s way past the Pokemon stage, I’m very happy that he prefers being with us to hanging out at the mall or getting something pierced. Seeing my daughter come in all rosy-cheeked from playing with the dog in the snow, rather than seeing her come off the bus, red-faced and tearful from being bullied more than compensates for any free time I might be giving up. I think we have a much closer bond than many families have, and I know that it’s what we DO all day that makes that bond.