Finishing
the Race
Andrew Pudewa
;e Work of a Child
At some point, most home- schooling parents experience a sort of “anxiety spike” when their child hits 12 or 13 years
of age. With the onset of “ninth grade”
or “high school” just a year or so away,
things seem to suddenly become more
serious; heavy words such as transcript
and ready for college slip into conversations. Concerns about the student being
“at grade-level,” particularly in areas he
or she may have struggled with in the
past, such as writing or math, seem to
grow. And it is especially easy to worry
even more about boys, who we imagine
will some day need to support a family
and who also tend to mature a bit more
slowly than girls.
. . . Each child is very di;erent, will have a di;erent
mission in life, and will need skills and a course of
study di;erent from that of his or her siblings.
Overall, I have been pleased to hold a
rather relaxed attitude about grade levels
and age-ability expectations; my wife and I
have striven to embrace an individualized,
;exible, holistic approach to education in
our home, recognizing that each child is
very di;erent, will have a di;erent mission
in life, and will need skills and a course of
study di;erent from that of his or her sib-
lings. However, even I have su;ered the
aforementioned anxiety spike about my
son who, as one of the most dyslexic people
I have ever met, literally could not read a
book until he was almost 12 years old.
116;March;2012;•;Finishing;the;Race
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