A story by Vanessa
Home school was a wonderful experience. 2 beautiful desks with drawers were built, and a blackboard and globe appeared. It allowed my mother to double up on lessons when the restaurant was slow so she could focus on the restaurant when business was busy. Getting through 2 or 3 lessons in a day was tough going, but we knew it freed us up for uninterrupted hours of play. It also meant when friends from other places came to visit we could have days off to spend with them. Many people would come to Bequia back in the day with their children, and having to wait until after school to go and play with them was torture. Our regular friends were great, but new playmates were exciting.
My favourite subject was Greek Mythology. I had never heard of this subject, but it was basically just stories, so I loved it. You may wonder why does a girl on Bequia need to know about the ancient Greeks? A valid question, but it proved useful when I went away to university and studied the classics. For once I wasn’t behind in something! I was grateful for that. I also enjoyed writing, which came in handy!
We had tests just like in school, which had to be mailed away to the home school people in America to be graded. I soon realized that my descriptions of island life in my essays really attracted them and I wrote horribly over descriptive sunset scenes that they loved! My first taste of writing to please a teacher and not myself, another skill to take with me to university!
I threw terrible tantrums in math. I did not see the point. Even my mother admitted some of it would never be needed in life. But she insisted fractions, percentages and measurements were very important (other than addition or subtraction, obviously). She used them every day, and every time I bake and have to do a conversion I think of her. But honestly, thank goodness for google, because I didn’t learn a thing!
Mummy often gave us work and nipped to the kitchen or restaurant quickly to get a task done and came back to check on us. Sometimes she left Arleus in charge while she cooked. I don’t know how she did it.