Drastic changes, like we are experiencing during this outbreak of the Corona Virus that seems to be affecting how our world usually functions, can bring up random emotions that we may not have dealt with before. Parents have it specially hard as they have many personalities within a household that all seem to deal with things in different ways, all who are experiencing the same disruption of normalcy and all  who they are responsible for. Parents have a responsibility to be there for their kids but it is very important that we are there for ourselves first. If we don’t have it together, we may find ourselves highly reactive to small things that would not usually affect us. This could cause a snow ball effect that can set a day or a week, or a quarantine off to a bad start. We can also transfer our fears and stress onto the people around us, as pent up emotions seem to spill over at will.

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There is no arena in which parenting seems to be more difficult of a task that in teaching your child how to work through rejection. Lately it seems that every other meme or inspirational quote tells you to love yourself first and then everything falls into place, everything from being happy to finding the perfect partner will come as soon as you love yourself completely. As if this extremely complex endeavour serves as a magic pill for life and happiness. I can’t say I believe this. Sometimes it feels like I love myself so much that I am shocked when others don’t see how wonderful I am, LMAO. Okay, so that sentence was hard to type with a straight face but there is a bit of truth in it.

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People asking: how are they tested? Are they on grade level? Do they know their times tables? And many more questions. At the beginning of this adventure I would panic when asked these things and worry about my kids. But, that too has evolved with perspective. Now one of the most magical aspects of being the parent of an unschooled child has become watching them “know” things. The learning is not always immediately apparent as it becomes part of life, but the “knowing” tends to blow me away. The type of testing a child receives in a traditional school setting is very black and white. They are scored on the right or wrong answer, and how many right answers a child is able to achieve. But for those that grow in an alternative setting, tests are presented by life experiences.

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Learning history is part of most school curriculums. But teaching your child to enjoy learning it and remembering can be a more difficult tasks. I find that there is no better way to teach or learn history than through travel. There really is no comparison between reading about something in a text book and seeing it with your own eyes. There are a lot of historic landmarks spread throughout the word full of history. When you visit these historic places, you get submerged into the story. You can feel what it was like back in the day, you can hear the stories from a tour guide, or you can get an idea of the dimensions that were at play. Things like the Alamo when read about seem huge and powerful but when seen in person, it takes a new life and makes the stories more easily understood.

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