This week is week four of our first year homeschooling. Can't believe we've gotten through our first month already. Lots of lessons this week but not just for the kids. I am trying to learn to be more patient. I also am learning to let my 2 year-old learn for himself how to do things and not hover so much, trying to prevent accidents all the time. Case in point, this week when we were outside, Liam saw his big brother's skates. Typical me, I took them away and put them where they belonged, assuming he'd only hurt himself by attempting to use them. After putting them away twice, Liam still persisted to do what he set out to do...put on the skates and attempt skating with them. So I backed off. I let him have the skates and just made sure I wasn't too far away if he needed me (i.e. medical attention!). Well, let me tell you this little boy is persistent. He put on one skate, tried to balance to put on second, started rolling and took off one skate, sidled up to a chair and held on to balance. That didn't work. So he went at it from another angle, sitting on floor of patio and then putting skates on. This time he couldn't get up and balance himself so he took them off again. He tried several times and even used the dog to balance himself at one point, and I'm happy to say, the dog cooperated to an extent and didn't just walk away from him. Eventually he succeeded and managed to skate a few steps with those over-sized skates on his feet. He couldn't have been happier.
I saw things in him I guess I already knew but usually saw as negatives. He can be difficult and headstrong, but in life, persistence is usually a positive quality. Sometimes I don't see the positives. This stepping back and letting him try, even though I feared he'd hurt himself, became a lesson for me. I just hope his determined and persistent nature stays with him and that I continue to allow him to try things. Little boys, as well as big I suppose, will try things that drive us mothers crazy. They don't see the danger involved. Sometimes, though, we have to allow them to explore and try things, even if in our brain we are screaming, "No! You're going to hurt yourself!" This lesson was one I should have learned long ago, as this is my second boy. I know I did the same overprotective stuff with Josh. My brother told me many times to just let them be boys. For me, though, letting go wasn't easy. I still may be nervous and overly protective at times, but I think this showed me that it's okay to let them try, even if I think they may fail. That's life.
As for the actual schooling this week, we concluded our volcano study with a volcano model and experiment. Josh, with the help of his dad, made playdough and molded it over a bottle attached to cardboard base. They built a cinder cone volcano and then used water, vinegar, food coloring (to make it the color of lava), and baking soda to simulate an eruption. This was the highlight of the study for Josh, the thing he waited for the whole month. They tried another experiment with only partial results. Done properly, it should have been a very messy experiment, but as we learned, you have to drop the reactants in at same moment, and quickly, or it doesn't quite work. The experiment was done with a bottle of red soda, again for the color of lava, and 3 Mentos. Josh only managed to get one of the Mentos in, so that is the reason for only partial results. Perhaps we will try this again one day. It was a good end to our study though. Too bad the volcano in Iceland didn't erupt before we finished our study. That would have made a nice wrap-up.
So, many lessons for the week. Patience is indeed a virtue. That beast inside me needs to take a chill pill and learn to let things go with the flow at times. I'm learning and I hope Josh is learning to bear with me as we go through this together. Parenting is a life-long lesson and I continue to work at it. Sometimes I fail. The trick is what you do with the failure. I want to be like my son, and pick myself up and try again until I get it right.
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