Only Child Stereotypes

I had my first two encounters with peoples' only child preconceptions yesterday and today. They both happened at the dentist's office. First, after I declined a second set of x-rays for the year for G-man, the dentist asked if he was an only child. After I told him that he was, he made some comment on how mommy is protective of her only child. So....what, people with more than one child don't care about them and just let the dentist do whatever he wants to them?

Then today, we went back to the dentist for my turn. G-man was talking to the hygienist and she asked him if he had any brothers or sisters. When he said that he didn't, she immediately asked if he was spoiled. And so it starts, I guess. Now I just have to keep up on my job and raise an only child who is not a spoiled brat.

Lincoln Log Quiet Time

G-man decided to build during quiet time today. After a few minutes he excitedly called, "Mommy, Look!" When I went to look, this is what I saw. A complete log cabin with deck, bench, and TV set. I was amazed as he has never built such a well-planned-out structure before. They are usually a lot more abstract. :-)

Homeschool Meetup Group

We've been to 2 homeschool meetups, and I'm really liking it. There are some really fun ladies there and lots of kids, several being right around G's age. Last week we went roller skating and had a lot of fun! G loved it! I am so pleased with his social growth just since we've been checking out homeschool playgroups. He used to be such a leg-hugger, but now he's running (or skating/tripping) up to people and saying hello and asking their names. It's so great to see him growing like this.

This was G's 3rd time skating, I think. The last time being about a year ago. At first he wanted to hold on to me, but when he figured out that I would not be towing him around the rink all day, he quickly let me go and declared, "I don't need you." His improvement was amazing! He started out slipping and tripping all over the place, falling every couple of steps, but by the end he was doing SO much better. It was fun to see his improvement over such a short time.

The Question of "Weirdness"

A few days ago I was asked a question pertaining to homeschooling: "Are you worried that your son will turn out weird?"

It got me thinking...I guess it depends on your definition of "weird". I suppose what the asker meant was, am I worried that my son will be a social outcast for life because of homeschooling, that he will always be a step behind in jokes, slang and slurs? I'm not exactly sure what other homeschooling stereotypes are out there that people are worried about and think that I should be worried about. Perhaps it is believed that people who homeschool actually stay home and keep their kids from the outside world altogether. In reality, we do more social extra-curricular activities even at this stage of the game than I ever did going through public school (where socializing is largely discouraged, or at least it was when I was growing up. Do children still get in trouble for talking in class?). These days there are so many great ways to get involved with the local homeschooling community (which is a rapidly growing group), it is a rare thing to find a family who keeps their children cooped up at home, not allowing any outside contact.

The more I think about it, though, the more I realize that yes, my son will be weird. I take "weird" to mean outside of the norm, strange, different, even extraordinary. There is no doubt that he will not be an ordinary child. Even now at the age of four, he is not ordinary but a bit weird. He's got a large vocabulary, can comfortably have a conversation with people of all ages, and is reading. As he gets older I EXPECT him to be weird, and I will be proud of him for it. In observing the ordinary children of today, I see disrespectful individuals who are hungry for attention. They hate school and ridicule anyone with a love for learning or who does well academically. They are bitter and resentful, and they embrace evil.

So, I am looking forward to seeing the "weird" man that my son will become outside of that influence. If being "weird" means that my son will love and seek after God, love and respect his parents, be compassionate, have a high self-esteem, be well-educated and able to think independently of the crowd, KNOW what is right and stand up for it, be able to carry on intelligent conversation, be able to relate to people of all ages (not just his own age group) and have sound reasoning skills, I say, I hope he's as weird as they come.

Learning HTML

Well, I've finally had it with messing around with web editors. They drive me NUTS! Paul is teaching me to do my web pages using HTML code, and so far, so good. I'm having a lot fewer problems this way than using an editor...so far.

The Hub

The Hub is a homeschool playgroup that G-man and I checked out on Wednesday. We both really liked it there. All of the kids were older than G, ranging in age from 5 to 12. G met the 5-year-old little boy (another only child, by the way) and they were fast friends. They hung out together all day. It was so nice to see G so eager to join in the fun. There wasn't even any leg-hugging invovled. :-) He also enjoyed the company of a 9-year-old girl and a 12-year-old girl. I feel so good about giving him this opportunity to make friends with children of all ages (under supervision), whom he will be able to relate to as we start our official homeschool journey. I think he had a bit of an "aha!" moment when he asked the mother of the 9-year-old girl if her daughter would be there the next time we got together. She told him that yes, she would be there, and G asked, "Does she have to go to school?", and the mother answered, "No, she is homeschooled". This seems like a really great group.

There is one other group that we are going to check out...we very well may end up with too many social engagements to fit into our schedule. :-)

First Local Homeschool Meeting

I went to my first homeschool meeting last night. The speaker talked about the different ways you can use magazines in your homeschool, mostly for English, but science, art, math, history and geography were also discussed. The ladies there were really nice and friendly, and I felt like I really fit in. It was great! They will have another meeting on March 31st and the speakers will be a panel of adults who were homeschooled as children. I can't wait for that one! What a great group!