Characters

So, I'll be honest with you--the last few months have been less than stellar ones for the Doyle Homeschool.  An outside observer might wonder what the girls are actually learning.  I have enough of the "un-schooler" in me though to value the informal learning that goes on in conversation and on our every day journeys.  

Whenever I am having trouble keeping the girls moving through their schoolwork, I fall back on an old staple--I read to them.  A lot.  We have made our way through quite a few of the great works of children's literature.  As we go, I ask them comprehension questions, "word detective" questions and we do basic analyses of settings, characters and themes (my Master's degree hard at work :).  I know moms who gravitate toward math when all else fails--or spelling, or science.  For me, it's always a story with at least one girl on my lap.

What I've noticed as we've read is that all of the great female characters that we come across are...characters.  Anne Shirley, Jo March, Laura Ingalls, Helen Keller, (both biographical but still favorite "characters"), Heidi--we're reading that now.  Not one can be described as docile, submissive or "good" in the sense of being completely traditional.  They are fiery, curious, adventurous and interesting.  They are leaders.  Which makes me feel better about the house full of strong-willed ladies we are raising. 

Just today, I assigned one of them to write "I will not shriek.  It hurts Mommy's ears" ten times.  I put another down for an immediate nap for being exceptionally defiant and listened to ear-piercing wails for fifteen minutes (it was truly an award-winning performance).  I have to remind myself that this is not a contest of wills.  I do not have to win.  I just have to teach them how things work in our family and how to express their feelings and desires peacefully.  Besides, if it were a contest of wills where the goal was to "break" them in the manner of wild horses, I would surely lose.  Strong willed as I am, I am a bit weary after 15 years of parenting.  Oddly enough, after all these years, I am still navigating the terrible twos.  So--I have a lot of years to go and these days, when I see that look that stubbornly insists, "you can't make me", I sigh inside and want to say, "oh--do what you want--I'm going out for a margarita".  (And sometimes I do.)