Initially, my husband and I decided to pursue the homeschooling option as a way to avoid the gigantic school fees here. And they are huge! Not having a spare Dh 60,000 lying around for tuition is an excellent motivator for being more involved in your child’s education. So we contacted the NZ Correspondence School, registered our little darling, paid the minimal fees, and we were all sorted. Easy as that. Well, that was the easy bit. Next came the bit where I realised that this was going to be quite the commitment.
The first few weeks were challenging, to be diplomatic. A really big box arrived full of all sorts of educational things, and my wee girl and I unpacked it with glee. Math equipment, paints, tutoring books, story books and much more poured out, and I started to see that this was going to be a pretty big deal. I may actually have to do something, rather than just throw some worksheets at her. I was going to have to get my brain around this, and fast. After an hour or so of perusing the materials, my fear turned into excitement. The teaching guides were great! They seemed to know that I wasn’t a proper teacher, and all the instructions were geared towards me understanding what I needed to teach, how to teach it, and when. Crisis averted, I went to bed a touch excited about the whole thing. The next day we struck out into the land of education, with some trepidation, but also a bucket load of enthusiasm. My darling daughter, who is a bit of a bright spark (if I do say so myself), had no problems with the work, but she had a HUGE problem with the idea of her Mum being her teacher. She wanted a proper teacher, not someone who was going to teach her and then make her clean her room and finish her dinner. The first few weeks had a soundtrack of ‘but you’re NOT a teacher Mum, you’re just Mum’. Well gee thanks! Apparently when you become a mother your brain drops out your ear. At least that’s what it seems my girl was trying to say. Soon though, little miss discovered that her Mum could think, and explain, and teach her, and it has changed our relationship in all kinds of positive ways. She looks to me for guidance more now, and I am so proud of her ability to ask questions and then apply the answers to her work.
After a few months of diligence and fun, we’re at a place where we enjoy working together. Seeing her begin to think creatively, and to implement her ideas, is an amazing thing. She has come so far, and the sense of pride I get when I see her reading to herself, or writing something (because she wants to, not because she has to) is worth all the moments of frustration. We still have plenty of frustrating moments, trust me. There have been days when I could have been bald from tearing my hair out. With time and effort, those days get less frequent. Most of our time is spent enjoying the schoolwork we do, spending time together, and getting to know each other in a whole different way. I wouldn’t trade that for the world.
