He is not a baby! My first thoughts about homeschooling Ron

Hello my Darlings and welcome to Mum Dee Does. I am Dee, a mum who does (it all), and today I want to share a realisation I had this week.

​Homeschooling is something James and I always agreed upon. Our experiences of traditional school, our experiences in the “real world” of work and career, as well as the recent events in the education sector in the UK have suggested homeschooling (or some sort of flexi-schooling) is the most sensible option for our family. That, and the changed routine to our family life we will experience once James joins the RFA, all lead to the same conclusion: our son Ron will most likely be homeschooled.

​But it was always going to be “someday in the future”. Ron is just a baby, after all. His education begins with the ABC song and ends with naming the colours - right? Well, yesterday afternoon I had an epiphany that made me re-evaluating Ron’s abilities and think hard about my expectations for our upcoming homeschooling experience.

​Ron was stubbornly playing with the cows and the sheep whilst I was trying to encourage him to walk so that I could pick up more miles for my #MumDeeWalks challenge. It was a cold afternoon, the rain clouds hovered ominously and the sun had dipped beyond the zenith, making me even more anxious to get a move on, all whilst Ron was giggling and laughing a the farm animals, or examining the tractor front loader bucket he saw on the side of the main road. I couldn’t pick him up as my ankle did not feel quite right yet so I was left with no option but to try to encourage him to walk home as best I could - all to no avail. That got me flustered and, to be honest with you, even annoyed. I texted James who reminded me that Ron is simply doing what toddlers do - and no, annoying mum was not it - he was examining his world, exploring, learning. He was learning.

​It was then that I finally realised that Ron was no longer a baby, he has developed his own independent interests, has his own unique ideas and, quite rightly, walks to his own drum beat. Why should he walk past the interesting things just because his mum is in some kind of perceived hurry? He was interested in cows. He wanted to see what they say or do, how they respond to him putting his hand out, or making a barking sound… The same way I would be interested if I saw a herd of dinosaurs or a school of mermaids - creatures that I may not have seen before. Just because cows are of no interest to me, did not mean they were of little interest to Ron. He was fascinated. He was playing and thus, learning. 

​Instead of getting impatient or annoyed, I should have joined in. Yes, we may have got wet in the rain, or had to find our way back home by moonlight, but Ron would have felt a lot more encouraged and inspired had I joined his interest, instead of rushing him along, getting annoyed and, eventually summoning daddy to be the “evil one” and take him home.

​Just something I learned and wanted to share with you - if I want our homeschooling experience to be a successful one, I should stop waiting for him to be “of school age” and sit still reading textbooks, I should encourage that childish curiosity he has started to develop and demonstrate, and join him in his exploration, his play.

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​​​​It’s been a pleasure! My name is Dee, and I am a mum who does. Ta ta for now.

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