Selling Her to Gypsies

Any bidders?

Yesterday I waxed poetic about mi dulce hija and how wonderful it was to have her working with me all day. Today I'd cheerfully sell her to gypsies. Heck, I'd pay them to take her off my hands.

And I wouldn't miss her for hours.

I wanted to use the classical education model for teaching her, because it is rigorous and emphasizes history and languages. There are tons of different models of homeschooling out there and I haven't learned half of them yet. I myself would have loved learning with the classical model as a child. Of course I was an odd child and adored having my sharp little pencils in a row.

My daughter is not a sharp pencils in a row kind of kid. I've been looking at other models out there with the knowledge that whatever model I use will be a hybrid, and the classical model will not be the one that resonates with her soul. It's the model that resonates with my soul, though, and I want it for her.

She's very bright and curious about the world, so rigorous is not the problem. The problem is that she has her own strong ideas and is stubborn and opinionated about them (and obnoxious, pig-headed, and immature, too. Do you get that we didn't have a good day?)

Yesterday, our first day, we learned Latin, literature, math, history, spelling, handwriting, dictation, PE, and library skills. We didn't get to grammar, though it was on the agenda, and science we are alternating with history. So it was a full schedule and we worked hard. I even had this nifty point system that I was going to brag about later. She didn't like everything, but she worked and earned her points.

Well, today was not such a good day. She probably learned as much as she would have learned in a regular classroom where she isn't challenged, but it certainly wasn't yesterday. She studied Latin, German, literature, handwriting, and math today. But I had to say some words and do some things that I certainly wasn't proud of to get her to do it. Subtlety is lost on her.

It doesn't help that I have the patience of a gnat.

My husband came home for lunch today and noticed that she was runny nosed, puffy eyed, and bit under the weather. For being such a helicopter mom, I can be so blind to these things. We called it quits for the day, with over half the curriculum left uncovered, and we stopped being evil bears to each other.

I might be tempted to throw in the towel after today except that we've had identical times over homework in years past. Tomorrow is a new day. God help me make it better.