We were so excited about today! Another trip and a chance to meet some new friends. The plan had been to do just a wee bit of work before heading up to the Burrell Collection for our workshop on Ancient Egypt with the home school network. So, S was working away, I did the dishes and cleared up from breakfast and things were going great! I decided to check the computer to confirm the time we were to meet assuming it was just before 10:30. However, it was 10:00 it started with the families to meet 10 minutes earlier. So, in a slight panic we dropped everything, grabbed the packed lunch and bombed out the door. The traffic was not on our side but we made it into the Burrell around 10:10am.
The assistants at the Burrell were very twitchy when we arrived and quickly told us the museum was closed today until 11 o'clock. I told them what we were there for and they insisted no-one was there. They then checked with their organiser to see if there was anything written in for the home schooling network and returned quickly to tell me it was YESTERDAY!!!!!!!
So - I was left to break the news to my not particularly flexible, very excited son that I had big time goofed! Not only were we 10 minutes late but a whole 24 hours on top of that!
So, not the best start! The plan had been to go and get S new trainers after the workshop and so I decided we'd do this straight away. I knew the home school network were doing their monthly games afternoon today and because S didn't have trainers that were fit for anybody's eyes I had decided we wouldn't be going until he had suitable footwear. However, he was so gutted not to meet new friends at the museum I offered him the chance to go there. Personally, after mucking the days up, the last thing I felt I had the nerve to do was to turn up at a sports afternoon but this was one of those occasions when I felt I had to swallow my pride and really put S's best interests in front of my own!
So, we trainer shopped (and sneaked in a handbag shop too - thanks to my sister's lovely birthday voucher to me! :0) ) and then headed home again where I could check my e-mail and actually get to the right thing, at the right place, on time!
We made it to the sports afternoon and it was great! It was so good to meet other mums who were doing the same thing (although who had been at it for so much longer than me!!) and S had a fantastic time! We met lovely mums and lovely kids who all made us feel so welcome and so part of the group! S had a great time playing football and has been so excited to make friends that it completed our week so perfectly!
Meeting the mums was really good for me. I am so aware I am still very much in the "teacher" mentality of being very structured with S and setting quite high targets for myself and S and really treating home schooling like school at home. Meeting these mums was really refreshing to see how positive they all were about education and how laid back they were - and seeing how happy their kids were! Whilst I don't think S is the sort of child who could cope with a very relaxed home schooling experience; he needs a certain element of routine that he knows and can learn - I definitely feel that home schooling will become more positive and more enjoyable if I stop putting so much pressure on myself and then by default on S! This combined with coming back from our October family holiday in Skye, where life is at such a different pace, has really made me question why we put so much pressure on ourselves and our lifestyles! Why do we do it? Why do we work ourselves into the ground? Why do we feel we need to reach perfection at every level (speaking for myself anyway!!) Every night since we started I have been preparing until after 11 at night and fitting in normal household chores and giving time to the other children. S has had the most successful learning days when we have done fewer tasks and the pressure has been off him! I don't regret anything we have done these past couple of weeks but I can so see how things will change quite a lot over the next few weeks. More and more we see the benefit of having S at home and I want us to enjoy this experience and not feel that we are "ticking the boxes" to appease other people. That is so not what it is all about and if anything that is what I learnt today. I want a happy child who is content within himself!
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