"Although I speak from my own experience, I feel that no one has the right to impose his or her beliefs on another person. I will not propose to you that my way is best. The decision is up to you. If you find some point which may be suitable for you, then you can carry out experiments for yourself. If you find that it is off no use, then you can discard it." Dalai Lama...

Friday 18 June 2010

Millyisms

We were having a tickle fight - I had Milly's hand flat in between my two flat hands and I said that's like a Mummy and Milly sandwich - she answered yes,you're the bread and I'm the filling in your sandwich.She sure is ! I am empty without her.What a great metaphor for her importance to me,she is now affectionately known as the filling in my sandwich:-)

At the pool on Thursday ... Milly got in the pool but had left her goggles in the locker.I offered to go and get them for her.On my return I saw the pool manager - who was on lifeguard duty poolside - was leaning over chatting to her.As I got back to the table she finished her conversation and came out to get her goggles and have a drink of water.She was keen to tell me word for word what had been said :-) He had asked her where her friend was that she normally came with (he sees us every week) Milly explained she was still in the changing rooms and was with her Mum and brother.He then asked why she wasn't in school and Milly said she didn't go to school -  she was home educated...May not seem like a big deal - quite a normal conversation.It was a big thing for Milly - she is a chatterbox but only in situations she feels comfortable in -she would normally look to me to answer for her.

As we sat in the car eating our lunch afterwards I said I had thought about her conversation with the lifeguard and how brave she had been and wondered how she had felt.She said she had been a bit nervous but it was OK.One of the reasons she tends to look to me to answer when people ask about home ed is that they often want to know what she learns and how it works - she finds it difficult to come up with an answer in the moment. We have talked about this before and have worked out some things she could answer with so she would feel more confident .I reminded her of this and said that if she is in that situation again and is asked how it works she might say something like we don't do lessons but I follow my interests and learn things that way.
She said or I could just say it works perfectly fine thank you :-)

1 comment:

suzy said...

I love the sandwich metephor. So sweet!
My 12 year old has found it hard knowing exactly how to answer peoples questions about homeschooling. A lot of people do seem genuinley interested but occasionally people might say something negative. We have had these conversations at the park, the swimming pool, the library etc...
I guess it must look a bit different, still a good opportunity to learn how to communicate ideas to different people.