Voices

This morning we finished up our first week of homeschooling. 

I am going to tell you, I love it! Granted we are simply doing a laid back version of kindergarten - have I mentioned that Nathan is only 4 1/2 and won't officially be in kindergarten until next year? I am not pushing him to learn anything, simply laying the ground work and helping his mind absorb what it can. 

Some of my observations from this week. 

He is better at art than I realized. I guess I have not really sat at the table with him while he does art. I mostly set it up and let him do his thing while I get stuff done. 

I love hearing his mind work. The way he processes, talks, and answers questions.

Also, he is very hard on himself. This is the thrust of my post today, because it's the one I want to explore myself. 

This morning I was dragging. I didn't get much sleep and my cup of coffee did little help me shake the sleepies. When I am tired, I tend to be impatient. A fault I am aware of and not please with. Anyhow, we started school with Nathan's normal joy and excitement for the tasks ahead. When we started the week he couldn't name the letters by sight. As of Wednesday he had learned a handful. So this morning we were doing review and he was being silly and not naming the letters. I got short with him and told him he knew better and to answer me correctly. Fast forward a few minutes and he was working his alphabet puzzle. He was having a hard time finding the correct place for a letter and tapped his head and said, "What is wrong with me??"  My heart broke 1,000 times!  Now, I have never used those words but the gist was the same. 

It was such a reminder that he is absorbing much, much more than letters and numbers. He is listening carefully to my words, tone, attitude and views. The other day a friend posted a quote on Facebook and it has been with me since. It said, "How we speak to our children becomes their inner voice." Today was an illustration of that, without doubt. 

Yes, as adults we do make mistakes. I believe it's important to allow our children to see us make mistakes and make them right. I also believe that we need to be as teachable as we expect them to be in daily situations like this. 

So far, I am convinced that I have learned far more this week than he has.