I took a couple of days off and hung out at home to make progress on some projects and talking with Joel. Runa is having a very hard time with her anxiety and she is missing so much school that we came around to talking about home schooling. It is appealing as it gives us more time with Runa, reduces everyone's stress and gives us time to explore different kinds of learning, including a heavier focus on indigenous subjects. It was a little scary and sad to make this decision. Scary to walk away from school for a while and take that responsibility for ourselves. It is sad that Runa is in such a hard place.
At the same time we made the decision to move Sophie into a different school. She is not having a good experience where she is, they are not supporting her learning needs and they are difficult to engage with (having no phone or email access) and the friends she went with are making her life miserable. She also reported a teacher who is being homophobic, which has made her really uncomfortable. This stuff is on top of her concern with the religious stuff (it is a Catholic School) and the high cost of a cab for the days where she misses the bus.
Joel and I both have a lot of negative feelings about our experiences with school and as we look at what is happening to our kids and family and we needed to make some changes. Why is it so scary to step of the "normal path"? This past week as we have been establishing a learning routine, we had time to answer and ask so many questions, "Why is there racism?", "Why do leaves turn colours?", "Why was Louie Riel hung?" We played word and number games, collected leaves and sewed curtains. I felt very connected to the ancestors thinking of them teaching their children as they went through their days, answering questions and sharing experiences. It was a good weekend.
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