When I first got the idea to homeschool, Papa Smurf was very supportive and excited. He is a longtime reader of Thomas Sowell (and others) and has a great degree of disdain for the public school system. He e-mailed me pro-homeschooling articles and gave me encouragement when I got frustrated or burned out during the school year.
The only thing that I was not happy about was that he still did not get it that the learning needs to take place all of the time. He would often tell the kids the answer to something instead of encouraging and helping them figure it out themselves. I issued frequent reminders throughout the year about this, but it never seemed to click.
Then yesterday, Painter was adding 22,000 + 1,500 on the dry erase board to figure something out and he had lined the numbers up by the first digit. Papa Smurf came over to him and reminded him that it would be easier if he lined up the numbers from the ones place on, moving to the left. It was great watching how he guided Painter, but did not do the work for him.
And last night, when Painter took out a book to read that Papa Smurf thought was above his reading level, he chose five difficult words from a page and quizzed Painter. When he missed the word ‘knapsack’, Papa reminded him that the ‘k’ in ‘kn’ is silent.
He finally gets it! Now he understands that homeschooling is not just something that takes place during the “school hours” when he is at work. The boys are learning everything they need to know at home, a process that takes place all of the time.
As I told him joyfully, he is finally a Homeschool Dad!
Thomas Sowell is one of our favorite writers. His “Inside American Education” is very well done. We’ve loan it to over a dozen of our friends.