big boy

Welp, I guess I have to admit something.

In the realm of homeschooling my preschoolers, I am a colossal failure.

I finally owned up to the fact that I am so utterly unequipped to teach my boys the basic fundamentals. Of academia, that is.

I mean, I can’t even teach them how to hold scissors and a pencil correctly. I don’t know all those cool little tips and tricks that a trained professional knows.

(Doesn’t he look like such a big boy!?!)

I realize that keeping him home with me for an entire year was valuable beyond words. And that he learned much, in that respect. But in the realm of holding a pencil correctly and recognizing letters…well…let’s just say that I have less hair. And the hair that remains is wiry and gray.

Here’s a typical conversation after our homeschool day is over:

Mom: “What letter did we talk about all day?” (let’s say the letter D is the correct answer)

Mathew: “C!”

Mom: “No. Today we talked about D, that says duh-duh-dog. What else starts with D?”

Mathew: “Duh-duh-Mafew!”

Mom: (thinking to herself, oh.my.word) “Moving on…what color did we talk about today. Same color as grass.”

Mathew: “Pink!”

Joseph: “Joseph!”

Oh dear.

I also realize that these are squirmy little four-year-old boys, and I’m sure most of you boy-mom’s are thinking that our learning experience is pretty typical. However, Mathew may be going to Kindergarten next year, and I think it’s important that he doesn’t tell the teacher that grass is pink.

Poor Joseph. He wanted to go to school so badly.

Clearly Mathew thinks it’s totally awesome that he gets to do something that his brother doesn’t.

There’s that smile.

Do not fret. I am not beating myself up about being a preschool homeschool failure. In fact, I’m quite relieved that the majority of the pressure is off. It doesn’t mean that homeschooling is totally off the table, but until my fellas learn some basic fundamentals, I’m retiring as a teacher of the wee ones.

And I would be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy having some one-on-one time with just Joseph yesterday.

I mean, seriously…can you blame me?