Are you smarter that a fifth Grader?

      I thought I would write a blog to chronicle our first year of homeschooling but it has been more difficult that I anticipated. Finding time to shower everyday is a challenge.. much less blog. I vacillate between being a rock star parent/teacher and the certainty that I am destroying my last child. Clearly I lay somewhere in the middle.
       We are  in a routine and I am at the point of evaluating some of the curriculum I have chosen. Realizing that I can discard what isn't working even though I paid good money for it. It's like  eating that last bit of food at a restaurant when your jeans are screaming at your mouth to stop. I cant, I paid for it! I am also realizing that much as there are days that Sarah doesn't want to work, there are days that I don't either. Unfortunately, they aren't the same days. I do have new respect for teachers and I think their job is impossible. How can you do for 30 kids what I am having trouble doing for one?  The answer is they don't

Homeschooling is not perfect, just better.
 
       I am learning a lot about myself as well. I learned that I would rather spellcheck than actually put an apostrophe in any word. I learned that I learned very little when I was in school.  I learned that I am not smarter than a fifth grader and that my fifth grader is. I learned that almost everything you need to know can be found through khanacademy.com  for free.  I have learned that education is no great mystery and there are no shortcuts. The line is blurred between knowledge and intelligence and the capacity to learn is infinite.  I believe that discipline, habits and motivation are often disguised as intelligence when if fact we are all smart if we choose to do certain things.  The difference between gifted and average is not in the IQ but the desire to learn.  It may take some more time to master a concept but so what. Are we racing?