Show and Tell

For years before our homeschool experiment began, my kids were in some form or another of traditional school.  Naturally, they've amassed an array of activities that they expect to happen during a school day or week -- some of these are great and some are...less great.  

For Grace, any school worth its salt includes Show-and-Tell.  Most of the time, my daughter seems to have very little concept of days of the week and the order in which they show up...except that somehow, she always knows when it's Monday morning.  This is the day that she has designated Show-and-Tell Day.  

Honestly, I find this little activity wholly unnecessary, even when it's in a traditional school context, because I've never met a five year old who needs an activity contrived to encourage her to take the floor and talk about herself and her material possessions.  

But the absurdity is really amplified when you put Show-and-Tell into a homeschool environment.  I can't think of anything more ridiculous than "show[ing] and tell[ing]" about something that you brought all the way from down the hall to show two people who are with you every waking minute.  

Oh, wait, yes I can:  when the thing that you're "show[ing] and tell[ing]" is an imaginary horse.  That you can ride, and that you've trained to do tricks.

Do you see why I can't put this sweet baby in public school?

Show-and-Tell is admittedly an Eye Roll activity for me, but for whatever reason, it's of critical importance to Grace.  For awhile, I tried to talk her out of it, but now I'm starting to understand that this homeschool I'm running here in ATX isn't just my homeschool.  

Like it or not, this is our homeschool.  And if an integral part of my child's homeschool experience is that she gets to literally trip over herself and fall showing me and her brother how she can "do jumps" on her imaginary pony, then that's what we'll do.  I'll be right there with her, cheering her on (and trying not to think too hard about what my life has become and how there's not really a pony there).  Because what she needs to know more than the history of ancient Egypt or the divisors of 10 is that She Counts.

Mothers -- homeschooling or otherwise -- fall into this trap all the time and we never even see it coming.  We get so wrapped up in our own vision of what life should look like (because admittedly, our vision is fantastic), we completely ignore theirs.  Most of the time, we think we're doing it For Their Own Good, as if we've gained more than we've lost when we've denied them the occasional cake for breakfast, the mismatched we-wear-pink-as-a-neutral outfit, or the late night trying to finish The Wizard of Oz (it's really long...).  

Or the five minutes of Show-and-Tell.  

So I'll take a deep breath and cede a little control to my five-year-old, because the only way I get to enter into her world in any type of genuine way is if I give her the grace to create it.  

And her world -- complete with magic trick ponies -- is awesome.