can i get a witness!

"My heart is singing for joy this morning. A miracle has happened! The light of understanding has shone upon my little pupil's mind, and behold, all things are changed." Anne Sullivan

we all like to think our children are smart, gifted, special.

and they all are.

but when you are their teacher and they are your student, well, it becomes a bit more dicey if they are "not."

and by "not", i mean just average. or heavens agast! below average.

which is NOT a bad thing. at. all. it is what it is.

except if you are the one responsible for their entire education.

get where i'm going with this?

i have never pushed my children academically. sure, we have a pretty stiff curriculum compared to some, and sure i don't allow slacking off of that just because we are home doing it, BUT i don't push.

they learn at their rate and to the best of their ability. and what they learn, well, it's their to own. i just provide the space and facilitate the process.

my kids aren't geniuses, nor do i want them to be.

and i am fully aware of the public vs. home school mystique regarding the myth of genius. i don't buy it. there are geniuses in public schools and average kids who are home schooled.

that being said, good lord when you look at your child and he's absorbed the very thing you've been attempting to teach him, THE VERY THING, well, it's a moment folks.

it's a treasured moment.

like when you let go of the bike seat and they don't notice and they don't topple. when they spend the whole night in a bed other than yours and continue to do so every night after.

and when they spend a whole night in said bed and wake up dry.

when they say mama, papa, or NO! and mean it for the first time.

the first time they laugh.

the first time you see them.

knowing that a concept is grasped, understood, and regurgitated in the necessary context, and that you. facilitated. this., well, it's a moment.

in other news i leave you with a quote from the duke on the mccain;

"boy, you can just hear him getting older every time he talks"

and just so you know, we've talked about age, ageism, and how people can be competent at ALL KINDS of ages, but why HE AT HIS AGE and with related issues (i.e. leaving us to be raised by palin like a bunch of red headed stepchild orphans from the wrong ass side of the brimstone) scares us so much.

he's a smart ass, that one. and i cannot for the life of me begin to imagine where he picked that up.

x.