An "F" in Effort

I am feeling inadequate these days. Not up to the task. Deficient.

Maybe I read too many homeschooling blogs. My children are not learning their fourteenth language or preparing to enter law school on a dual enrollment or developing their doctoral thesis. Two of them are in public school for crying out loud. And the last little homeschooler? Hell, she doesn't even know who Johnny Appleseed is. This was brought to light when a nine-year old American visitor quizzed her on the subject. When Elle asked for clarification, the older, wiser, obviously better educated acquaintance patiently explained, with a sad little look and a pat on Elle's pitiful head, that she would learn about it one day. And I let fly a little harrumph, partly because I know that being educated does not mean stuffing your head with someone else's facts and figures, and partly because American folktales are not entirely relevant to our present situation, but mostly because my teaching efforts had been publicly brought up short. And the way things are going, the poor kid may never find out who Johnny Appleseed was.

We haven't cracked a book in weeks, unless you count Harry Potter, and even then we've left our hero and his friends loitering outside Gringotts for what seems an eternity. All Great Conversation reading, and thus great conversation, or even mildly interesting conversation, has come to a halt. Writing? Nada. Except for an article I contributed to an online publication that was essentially cobbled together from posts here and on my other blog and Elle entering a name for her character in Runescape there has been no activity. The fair came and went and with it all the wonderful opportunities to enter all those numerous enriching projects homeschoolers are always supposed to be working on. Even the lame-o coloring contest entry Elle diligently completed was negligently left on a shelf, ignored, and surreptitiously cast in the trash after the deadline had passed.

Sure, I could make excuses: We're in the middle of moving, our on-again-off-again relocation finally a go, and playing tour guide to visitors from the States for two weeks. Sure, I could elaborate on the unique learning experiences we have encountered in the past week or so: A tour of aboriginal sacred rock art sites, lessons in aboriginal plant lore and bush tucker. But none of that seems valid.

This can't be burn-out because the cure for burn-out is simply to back away from the school work and take it easy. I can't possibly take it any easier than we have been.