As I’m typing this out, my 8 year old (almost 9!) daughter is in her room sobbing. I have given her a creative writing assignment to write 4 sentences about how she thinks the story that we just read will end. Why is she crying? I’m not completely sure. That’s my current struggle with our homeschool journey.
Teaching your own kids is no joke. It’s hard. One of the hardest things about it is the emotional component on both sides. In a traditional school environment, the teacher would be less likely to melt down and the child is more likely to hold themselves together emotionally (for better or worse). It’s hard to hold on to reason when you’re confused and you are with your mom. I remember when my mom helped out at the school I attended. I had a question about my math work and she was the person available to help me. It was about the dreaded “borrowing” math problems. I didn’t get it. She did her best to explain it to me, but I just ended up in tears. I doubt I would have been crying if it was any other teacher.
With Audrey, I just don’t know. Is she crying because that is the way it is when moms and daughters interact or is she crying because she has some real learning issue here that I have not addressed? I have no idea. If I was dealing with Ethan, I would know that the problem was that he didn’t want to do it.
But Audrey learns differently. She gets confused easily. When something takes longer than she wants it to, she gets very upset. She forgets things that she’s been taught previously more often than not. There are times she reads simple instructions and then tells me she doesn’t understand what it’s asking her to do. And she may be almost 9, but when she’s upset, she does her best to try to not feel it and deny she’s feeling it. So, if I notice she is struggling and ask her about it, she either doesn’t even know she is struggling or she is afraid to tell me that she is. If I ask Audrey how she is feeling, she doesn’t know. Most of the time time the answer I get to how she is feeling is “Normal”.
The previous paragraph is made up of a bunch of sentences that, standing alone, seem common and typical. But all together and coupled with my mom-gut, I get the feeling that there is something going on there that I can’t put my finger on.
One of the hardest things about homeschooling is also one of my biggest parenting struggles– how do I know when my kid is dealing with something that is typical of most kids or if it’s something deeper?
How about you? What’s your hardest parenting issue you are facing right now?