Full On Tiger Mom Mode, But Not Really

It has always been a source of pride for me that I didn't go all Asian Tiger Mom on Little L; I never put her in torturous Chinese school (on Saturday mornings - oh the humanity!), nor did I insist on giving her a KUMON "head start" at age 4. [*insert eye roll*]. She didn't have music lessons, community classes, or even a full preschool schedule; she only attended 3 half-days a week, and the rest of the time she pretty much played at home.

So this year, with homeschooling, we have had access to some seriously great funding. We've also learned a bit more about our kid, and what she likes, and how she learns. The school day, which would have been 6.5 hours long had we enrolled in a brick-and-mortar, now runs all day, but not really. I mean, the formal instructional time is probably an hour in total, and if you add in the "work" time, I'd say we're looking at about 2 hours of actual schooling, spread out over the course of the morning and afternoon. It's hard to say what the true time totals are, though; Little L goes to the library, takes walks, scooters outside, plays inside, and goes on outings with us, which could all theoretically count as homeschooling too, but we deem those tasks way too fun and chill to be "real school."

So - to clarify - "real school" for us is pretty much worksheets and workbooks and manipulatives. It's science experiments and writing journals and process art and colouring and counting. It's not Barbies or Kidfetti or baking with the nanny or reading books for fun.

You get the picture.

Anyway, we have waaaay more time now than ever, since Little L works at her own pace, at her own level, and without the daily time-sink that is classroom management (also known as herding 5-year-olds to take them to the potty, or to wash their hands, or to go outside and come inside from recess). According to my nanny, who also volunteers in two other Kindergarten classrooms, we do tons more work than the kids in her K classes. I know for a fact that we do try to hit 4-5 subjects each day, and all within that 1-2 hour work period.

But I digress.

I didn't mean to fall into Tiger Mom mode, but in some ways, I kind of have. With our wide open schedule, and our access to some educational funding, it seemed like a good idea to get Little L into some activities. The "some" has quickly snowballed.

As in:

- private weekly swimming lessons
- private weekly OT for her fine-motor skills
- private bi-weekly OT for her gross motor skills
- private weekly ballet classes
- a weekly social group with other precocious kiddos

... and maybe piano lessons in the fall. We'll see about that one.

I'd say that on the surface, a schedule like this would earn me some pretty badass Tiger Mom stripes. However, the reality is that it's actually not an overloaded schedule, not even a little, because even with these commitments, we're still looking at only a 3.5-4 hour "school day." None of these activities cuts into her evening downtime, or dinner hour, or her play time. We still sleep in on lazy Saturday mornings, and play entirely too much Barbie for my comfort level.

So it has been interesting for me to learn about this side of homeschooling. I had never considered, at least until recently, just how much time is saved when one chooses to learn at home. I didn't ever stop to think that a homeschooling decision would open up our schedules for so many more exciting extra-curricular activities.

I don't know about you, but I'm starting to think that life handed us sweet Meyer lemons. Little L hasn't been complaining, and neither am I! :)