First day of homeschooling 3 January 2011

Monday pm.
Today, is supposed to be En's first day at Primary 1. Inevitably, I was emotional about it and began to question my ability of unschooling her at home. My spirit dampened by my lack of knowledge in everything. Holding back my thoughts, I observed what En was doing.
I saw her, lying down comfortably, reading few books at one go. Moving back and forth from one book to the other. Self - directed.
That put me back on track. And sensing my distress, my hubby gave me a crash course on homeschooling wonders. :) So grateful to have a supportive partner.

And words from my 'guru'
Anyway, children don't need, don't want, and couldn't stand six hours of teaching a day, even if parents wanted to do that much. To help them find out about the world doesn't take that much adult input.
 Most of what they need, parents have been giving them since they were born. As I have said, they need access. They need a chance, sometimes, for honest, serious, unhurried talk; or sometimes, for joking, play, and foolishness; or sometimes for tenderness, sympathy, and comfort. They need, much of the time, to share your life, or at least, not to feel shut out of it, in short, to go some places you go, see and do some of the things that interest you, get to know some of your friends, find out what you did when you were little and before they were born. They need to have their questions answered, or at least heard and attended to - if you don't know, say "I don't know". They need to know more and more adults whose main work in life is not taking care of kids. They need some friends their own age, but not dozens of them; two or three, at most half a dozen, is as many real friends as any child can have at one time. Perhaps above all, they need a lot of privacy, solitude, calm, times when there's nothing to do.

The average parent, family, circle of friends, neighbourhood, and community can and do provide all of these things, perhaps not as well as they once did or might again, but well enough. People do not need a Ph.D. or some kind of certificate to help children find their way into the world - John Holt