{photo by Jeannett Gibson}
Today’s Wednesday Wonder comes from Track A mom Jeannett Gibson. She and her husband Andy have two of their four kids at SLOCA – Henry (4th grade) and Lucy (2nd grade), plus Jill and Owen at home. This is their second year at the school, and you will see how much has transpired in just one year!
At the beginning of this school year, Intermediate teacher Lisa Ann Dillon asked parents to write her a letter about their child, so she could learn more about her students. After reading Jeannett’s letter, she called and asked Jeannett to share this on the blog, and we are so glad she did! This is more like a string of wonders than just a moment, and it’s a little longer than usual, but EVERY parent at SLOCA should read this. Both new and returning families will relate to these heartfelt words, and we think you will find hope and encouragement here:
Being Henry's second year at SLOCA, you are no stranger to my oldest boy. Last year was marked by some challenges and a bit of frustration on everyone's part. It probably didn't help that we were on a steep learning curve being new to the SLOCA model (which is overwhelming, to say the least, to someone who didn't start there at the beginning!). The methodology, workload, expectations, and even the language was completely different than our previous schooling choice. Everything felt confusing, and I had this image in my mind that every other SLOCA home was this panacea of educated peacefulness on home days. I had visions of happy, smiling children diagramming sentences in Latin, while looming blankets from organic home grown fibers. All the while, I was constantly texting friends for clarification, realizing I had forgotten a portion of the assignment, or just plain not understanding what on earth was going on. I joked with a friend that my entire first year at SLOCA could have been characterized by the words “Wait. What?” I heard myself say “wait…what am I supposed to do…?” “wait…what meeting is that?” “wait…what is a sentence diagram?!” The fact that I (and my husband) made our way through the California Public School System (bless its heart) during a time that did away with phonics, relied heavily on new-fangled pocket calculators, and while I graduated high in my class with honors and every AP class available, had never ONCE diagrammed a sentence or bothered to learn what a predicate was, or frankly, what an adjective was beyond simply that it was “a descriptor.” All of that say, I was learning right alongside my first and third graders. Begrudgingly, if I'm honest. (The “E” makes the letter say it's name! Hey! It does! I never realized that!)
While I've always believed in the educational model at SLOCA (you have to, just to sign up!), I can tell you that I'm drinking the SLOCA Kool Aid more than I ever imagined a year later (or should I say SLOCA Kombucha?!). At the beginning of last year, Henry's sentences were little more than a forced “The dog is brown. I like the dog. I think the dog is nice.” The writing process, in particular, was mostly a labor of love, and an exercise in head to desk pounding. I took Andrew Pudewa's “Robin Hood/Rich to the Poor” advice and coached (sometimes heavily) Henry's narratives. I often wondered whose name should really be going at the top of the page, but I pressed on. We did the history readings and completed our grids through tears and frustration, arguments, and exhaustion.
I saw a glimpse of proof it was working when my husband, who does not help with the homeschooling, and admittedly isn't the dad who asks detailed questions about school, said “Just listening to their conversations…overhearing what they are talking about and how they are playing and the questions I hear the kids asking you, there's no question SLOCA is the right choice. It's amazing.”
We plodded along, struggled through tears and small victories, and made it to the end of the year.
This year, I have been shocked at how… dare I say it… pleasant my homeschool days have been. The kids have been happy hearted, worked their little tails off, and had little in the way of complaints, if any. Both have sheepishly admitted liking being the “older kids” in the class and that it “makes school feel easier because you've done all this stuff before and it's their first time.” If that isn't a social experiment, I'm not sure what is!
Our very first writing assignment this year was a narration. I had given Henry instructions to look out the window for five minutes and think through what he was going to have me write down for him.
“Okay, you ready? Tell me what to write.”
“As I look out the window, I hear the pretty chirping of birds, and I see the trees swaying in the steady breeze…”
I stopped writing, my pencil in mid-air and my jaw somewhere near my ankles.
“I KNEW you'd like that one mom!”
Grinning from ear to ear like the Cheshire Cat. Chest puffed with pride.
In one million years, I would not have guessed that in the course of one, arduous, hand-holding year would I see beautiful language like this soon after with no coaching. One year earlier, it would have read more like “I see birds and a tree… can I be done now?”
Reading a chapter on Newton, and I'm stopped mid-sentence by bouncing excitement and memories recalled of Copernicus and Aristotle.
History lessons of the birth of America and a hard stop to discuss the triangular trade route… from a video narrative completed the previous school year.
I still keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and for my homeschool days to turn long and filled with gnashing of teeth. I realize the school year is still young, but I'll keep on keeping on until it changes. For now, I'm amazed at the changes in one short, but oh was it long while we lived it!, year. My hope is that you see some of this in the classroom too. Fingers crossed.
Wow, what an amazing testimonial! Thank you so much, Jeannett, for taking the time to really reflect on the year and your SLOCA experience so far, to write this all out, and then share it with our community. We all struggle sometimes, but we also get to see our kids grow and thrive, and it’s easy to forget that others need to hear these stories. (That's what Wednesday Wonders are all about – send in your stories!) Keep on keeping on, SLOCA parents!
