Children Grow Up and Grow Apart

Today was a tough day for a homeschooling mom – actually the idea is common to all moms. Today I had to let go just a little more. We went to visit a private Catholic school where dear daughter may attend in the fall. Dear Son responded exactly as expected and wants nothing to do with the whole idea. Dear Daughter however was completely enthralled. I think the uniform code, skirts and flats, only added to the romanticism of the whole idea.

DD has been talking about returning to school for a while and trying to disguise her interest by costuming it all in “our” best interests; as a real school will one, provide her with a diploma and two, keep more thorough records. In her opinion, I shouldn’t have to worry about such things. I will note that I am happy that she is worrying about these things as obviously she is mentally aimed toward college, but I’m not sure how much of a “help” this is to me.

When I look at the situation, I see her giving up her freedom and again shackling us to someone’s schedule. I see her limiting her educational experience to someone else’s planned curriculum. And I see her seriously bored after the first few weeks, potentially relearning many of the subjects that we already covered. But I know that she sees freedom, friends, and frankly anything that is not me.

But as I said, this struggle is not specific to homeschoolers but a typical part of the parent child separation known as adolescence. Sometimes it appears in their style of dress, their choice of music, and can manifest itself in other more dangerous signs of rebellion. So I guess that I should be relieved that DD’s separation is coming in the form of wanting to learn more and not some other crazy way, but I guess there is a part of me that maybe thinks this is just the first step. I kind of miss my Little Miss. I should have known this was coming from that very first, “No, me do”.

Two more visits before the end of the week. I’ll let you know what she decides, but I’ll give you strong odds that our time homeschooling with her is waning. Of course, me super secret plan to lure her with volunteering at the horse barn hasn’t come to fruition yet either. I’m rooting for those horses.