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Last night at our pool, I was greeted by a little girl in our neighborhood who just finished fifth grade and is very friendly. She talked to me for quite a while -- about dance classes and softball practice, about how she has to make her bed every morning before she is allowed to watch TV, about how her little sister is more messy than she is.
It occurred to me while we were chatting that I feel more comfortable and "in my element," so to speak, talking with a ten year old girl than talking with an adult. I'm not quite sure what that says about me, but there it is.
Anyway, this little girl (who attends public school) also talked to me about homeschooling. This didn't surprise me, because I remember her bringing that up before. Last summer, for example, when she was nine, she had said to me, "Aren't you worried that they won't be able to get good job when they're adults?"
I don't remember what my response was.
Last night she said to me, "I think you should send them to school. They would make a lot of friends, they would get a better education, and you would have more time to go shopping and things."
"Well," I said, matching her level of seriousness, "even if they went to school, I would still have Benjamin home with me."
"Yes," she said, "but it would be easier taking one child with you than three."
"That's true," I said.
Then she said, "What if you do send them to school one day? Would they start at the grade that other kids their age are in, or would they start at kindergarten?"
"Oh," I said, "I doubt the school would put them in kindergarten if they were eight or nine years old. Maybe they would take a placement test, or maybe we would just put them in the grade they would normally be in at their age."
Since homeschooling "didn't exist" when I was ten years old, it's rather amusing to hear a child's thoughts on it. I wonder why it is so interesting to her. I wonder if it makes us seem odd -- or fascinating. Or maybe she simply feels it's important that she talk me out of it.
Either which way, I like her, and I hope to have another pool visit with her again.
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6 comments:
That is too funny! She's obviously not afraid to voice her opinion!
Have you been talking to my niece? lol She does that to me almost every time I see her. Last week she said, "If your girls went to school they would get to have awesome teachers and delicious lunches!" I told her they already have the world's most awesome teacher, and the best lunches EVER. lol
I wonder if some adults in her life have slammed homeschooling around her. I suppose if she genuinely likes school she could think your kids are missing something. Talk to her again when she's in high school and see how much she likes school, LOL.
For some reason, this reminds me of a homeschooled highschool age girl (we'll call her HS) I spoke to once early on in our own family's homeschooling. She said she had a public schooled friend in her neighborhood (we'll call her PS) who always would tell her how much she was missing by not going to school and made it seem so wonderful, which would cause HS to actually have doubts about her own family's choices. Once they got to their teen years, PS started getting in trouble and having difficulties at school. she confessed to HS that she was always envious of her family, and since she couldn't convince her own mom to homeschool her, she had always tried to convince PS to get her family to let her go to school, so at least PS would have her best friend there.
That was amusing. Is she as charming as she sounds?
Too funny... I like your comment about how comfortable you were talking to this young lady and what that says about you! lol I have said the same thing about myself. I have taught nearly every age of Sunday school in our church- babies, preK, grade school, youth (teens), and adult. By far and away, I love my current class which is 4th-6th grade. I jokingly (sort of) say that I think I must be at the same maturity level as they are. I feel like I am on even ground.
Anyway, I do love a child that can think for herself and can have a conversation with an adult that is beyond "yup" and "nope". I am glad she can talk with you and I hope that she will see that homeschoolers are not weird or lacking in education.
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