Yeah. We’re about to revert to unschooling. And I’ve cut a deal whereby he does Mathletics on the computer before he starts gaming, so hopefully I’ll only have to explain the odd bit of stuff. At least when you’re unschooling you can prepare what you’re going to unteach.

Calm is not, entirely, I think how the neighbours would have described it. There was a degree of bellowing, which, perhaps does not come through in the piece…

Well, I’ve been worrying about this as we need to start unschooling again in a coupla weeks. Friends in the UK recommend http://www.mathletics.co.uk. Am going to try and negotiate some sort of deal whereby he plays Mathletics for half an hour before he plays anything else online, and hopefully t’interweb will do it for me. Fingers crossed, eh?

Oh yep. Shouty homework, like shouty supermarket shop, is one of those experiences that every parent has in common. It’s funny, really. When you see folk doing it and you haven’t had a kid you think, “Oh, I’ll never do that…” Then you do. We all do… You are by no means alone. Not all of us, however, do the shouting when surrounded by yoga-head neighbours seeking the serenity of the rice fields…

Now, I remembered photosynthesis. That and the periodic table are about the sum total of my science memories. Kristeva et al are a distant memory, but the good thing is you can actually chat with your kid about that stuff if you are interested in it, and it will be a good chat too..

And, err, yeah. Homework screws you up. It’s not as bad as the scream/eat/shit/sleep/scream/eat/sleep/shit/scream period of the first few weeks, but, erm, it’s certainly a special moment.

It’s just that I have an awful memory and remember very little from my primary and secondary education. Now, if a kid wanted to chat about literary theory, I’d be ecstatic, but don’t ask me about fractions or photosynthesis or what purpose a pancreas serves! 😛