School School School is Everywhere

Maizie and I were watching Grease today. I began to think....again about how all of these television shows and movies bombard her with images of school. Nickelodeon has lots of school based shows. Maizie loves them and I think a few of them are pretty funny too.

My favorite nick show is Drake and Josh. Joe and I catch ourselves laughing and enjoying that show a lot. Very little of Drake and Josh has anything to do with school and I like that. Ned's Declassified is okay but really grates on my nerves. It is so loud and bouncy. But, there are some positive messages and I can see where it would appeal to school kids. Zoey 101 is totally not based in any reality I have ever witnessed. Disney's High School Musical has been one of Maizie's favorite movies for months now. The message is sweet and I certainly don't think it is a negative movie for a kid. Maizie loves the songs and enjoys singing them. After we pulled Maizie out of public schools we restricted any shows that had anything to do with school. Maybe, for my own well being we should have continued that a little longer.Maybe it is the 'Back to School' fever...I don't know. I just see all these shows and imagine Maizie having feelings of loss or wanting to be a part of the "school experience" she soaks in from television. It has taken months to get her to stop mentioning her old teacher and school as if it was the most fabulous place in the world and she loved to say, "My teacher taught me this!". Argh! I guess I did not deschool myself long enough!

In other words my brain has been a mess of conflicting emotions regarding Maizie's schooling. I am pleased that we are homeschooling and know that Maizie is doing better physically, emotionally and has retained more information out of school rather than in. That should be enough for me to move on, get over it and just stop worrying. Well, one would think! Do all homeschooling parents worry about these things? I am sure they do. That makes me feel a little bit better.

Maizie and I try and talk about how school is not really like it is shown on television. Who knows if she understands or even cares. I am sure it is more of a 'marla obsession' than a maizie one. Once I am up and around more and feeling fantastic home schooling will be way more fun for Maizie. I knew we had to home school all summer due to my up coming surgery. We did that and now I am still worrying about getting it all done or regressing from slowing way down. I just need to tell myself to stop worrying and focus on getting better.

While looking into some new shows we want to record for Maizie I came across this website called Common Sense Media. It is one of the better ones I have found on rating shows in a realistic way. I like how it goes into details about what things in a movie, game or show parents might have concerns with. They give great ideas of questions to ask your child while watching the show. We let Maizie watch some shows that some parents may consider out of bounds. Like, Dude Where's My Car was Maizie's favorite movie for a year when we were in Jersey. I like that this site says, 'Know your kid'. I think that is what it is all about.