I had something else I wanted to write about but am having so much fun reading other blogs that I changed my mind. Or forgot. One theme I see running through many of the blogs that pull me in is homeschooling. What a commitment. Wow. It has seriously crossed my mind, to homeschool Tristan, but part of me really wants to send him to Waldorf when the time comes. Finances will have a large say in that. Since we're most likely having only one child, it may be possible to send him to a Waldorf school in a few years. I have my own aspirations in public history, but seriously am not sure if I want to work outside the home. I love doing research (why else would I love history?) so...we'll see about that. If it is all a "perfect storm" - homeschooling is definitely a possibility. It is the only option I can currently see if Waldorf isn't feasible. I really don't want to send him to public school. It's not the teachers - I think the teachers are great, committed, qualified people. It's the other kids. Everyday on the playground I see such negativity and anger and selfishness. Not always, no. But the truth is that television and video games are such a major part of most children's and families lives, that the violence and sarcasm picked up while watching it permeate daily interactions. Older kids are often immune to violence and unimpressed with the neat things that happen in daily life. That's how I see it. I know I'm making a blanket assumption, but what I see coming out of Waldorf are well-rounded, confident, creative people - and I'd be willing to bet the same from home-schooled kids too. Not that public school doesn't produce these kinds of people, but the building blocks of these children's lives are based on different ideas.
One of these differences is television and video games. I cannot let my child watch T.V. on a regular basis. I tried letting him watch Caillou once a day for a few days. It resulted in temper-tantrums and anger and tears (when it was time to turn it off) in my normally cheerful boy. Not to mention the glazed look on his face while he was watching. We stopped this on the third day. Now Tristan can watch a Caillou or Elmo movie on the van's DVD player when we take a long car trip (he watched on the way to Big Sur a few weeks ago, and will watch again on the way to Portland in a couple of weeks). He knows that while we're at home there are no DVD's in the van (I physically remove them so I don't lie when I tell him we don't have them except for long trips), and he no longer watches T.V. at home. Thank goodness. I find that I'm not watching much either. In the political season, I was a junkie with the news shows, but now I don't have the time for that. I watch a movie now and then, but not often. There are so many other things I want to do it just becomes a time-sucker!
I took some pictures yesterday but the camera is in our room and Tristan is still sleeping so I'll post them tomorrow. Happy Friday!
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