I feel it in myself as I stare blankly at some new math I’m supposed to be teaching the kids, it’s the feeling of confusion as if I’m staring at some foreign language. The text on the page is indeed the English I’m accustomed to but the words seem to be in a random order placed in a way that makes them seem more like a word search puzzle than a page out of a math text book. Than it clicks and all of a sudden it makes sense. It’s a wonderful magical moment where the world is in perfect order for that one second. The invisible cloud lifts. My brain finally turns on. It computes. It’s one of the best feelings a home schooling mom can have…only to be topped by the moment their kids experience their moment of enlightenment.
From that moment, I become the teaching master. I can see from point A to point B and I’m ready to introduce my new found knowledge with the little sponge brains of my children. This is usually where things don’t go as planned as I realize that even though I have had my clicking moment, to them it is still a foreign language. I continue on forging ahead and watching as they all but stand on their heads trying to make some form of logical sense out of something that makes perfect sense to me. And then one by one I see it in their eyes. It clicks. It really is a special form of magic.
I try to keep in my mind that they will get there as I calmly explain the examples and we work through the problems together. Eventually, it will click and they will understand. There will be moments where their eyes will stare at me in a blank glazed over state of confusion but soon the bright lights of understanding find their way through. To me, those are the moments that make all the hard work worth while because for a moment I helped create magic.
