... and will probably continue to bug me...
A few weeks ago the Primary Presidency popped by to give Eve a present. She's going to be going up to Primary after Christmas, so they were introducing themselves to her. I thought that was lovely (apart from the fact that the gift had chocolate in it, a big NO NO in this house, it sends the kids loopy, that will just have to be something we educate them about I guess)
The thing that bugged me was that one of the lovely ladies had spent some time in the Nursery, and told me (in awe almost) all the things Eve could do (counting, colours, blah blah, all the stuff she's been doing for months if not years) and then proceeded to say, "you can tell she's got a teacher for a mum."
GAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
I quickly followed with "actually I hardly taught her any of those things, she's picked them up by herself."
I get cross that people think that Eves knowledge and intelligence has anything to do with anyone but Eve. She is the one who has absorbed and put those things into practice. Sure, I might sing songs with her, and give her information when she asks for it or looks interested, but surely wouldn't any parent? Does the fact that I trained as a secondary school maths teacher and spent a miserable almost 2 years "teaching" in a secondary school *really* have anything to do with my daughters sucess??
It's the same when I tell people we'll be Home Educating... "well, you'll be okay, you're a teacher!" Like that PGCE conferred some sort of magical spell on me to know exactly what a child needs to learn. It's not even like we spent any time on Primary education, even if I thought half of it was valid to our needs. We spent 2 days (I think) observing in an infants school. How does that prepare me for guiding my own children through their formative years??
Yeah, so that's probably it for today. A rant. Lucky you.
Oh, and this is good read
I understand your frustration! I'm an ex primary teacher, so people think I'm 'qualified' to home educate. I've got tired of explaining autonomous education already, and Alice has only just turned 1! I think I'll just agree with them from now on.
ReplyDeletelol! They're just trying to give you a compliment. Probably a bit like when your child starts walking and people are like, "Oh that's early" and smile maniacally whilst nodding their heads at you, as if your child walking early is down to superior parenting skills. Some people just have to have something to say.
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