Well, thankfully, I did very well in school, and was confident going in in most subjects. Academic subjects, that is. Especially high school science and math, but I'm also tackling literature and history and doing fine. If any of them wanted to learn French, I'd do it, no problem. (Of course, I have one who is learning Latin, one working on American Sign Language, one wanting to learn Italian, and one learning Spanish.)
Academically, all of the kids have leaned toward math and science. We bred them that way -- from a long line of nurses, techies, their great-grandmother got a math degree before it was particularly accepted. My husband inherited her slide rule.
Unfortunately (ok, not really unfortunate), my older daughter has also inherited my mom's artistic ability. Of which I got none -- it all went to one brother in my generation. This child's curriculum this year is based on Anne of Green Gables. It's a great fit for her, giving her the grammar and literary analysis skills she needs in a relatively fun way, stretching her vocabulary, she likes the history (presented in a way that she's learning research skills), and lots and lots of crafts. Which is lots of fun for her, but for this non-sewing, non-yarncraft mom, assignments like 'crochet an afghan' or 'sew a gown' are a bit daunting. We got through the gown assignment ok ... Grandma had taught her to make doll dresses a few years back, so making a simple dress for little sister wasn't too bad. But crochet ... an afghan? (Several weeks later, there was a 'crochet a potholder' project ... we're still laughing at the order those assignments were put in. What's a potholder when you're in the middle of an afghan? SO, we're outsourcing. the mom of one of my older two children's friends crochets well. And she only has boys (one of the two just left for college this semester). So, she's teaching my daughter to crochet. After two sessions, an afghan still seems like a distant goal, but a potholder? Maybe so. And it's fun to see the relationship my daughter is developing with this other mom.
For the first time in my adult life, I have one of my close blood relatives living close by. My cousin started his master's in English at the big local university. I know how to write, but teaching it can sometimes be difficult, especially to teens and tweens, who are in the phase where parents don't know much. So, next semester, I might pay him to take over critique of some of the kids' writing. The older two did REALLY well writing in their first year of public school with their third grade teacher, so I'm hoping a change in teacher (to someone who teaches actual college students as part of his deal with the university) might help them make another leap to where I want them to be.
I LOVE science labs. But in juggling four children, they don't always get done. Now that the older children are at a higher level (high school honors Biology), the labs are more important. There's a guy who teaches near my parents who will be offering a traveling Bio Lab seminar. As confident as I am in teaching, it's much more likely to actually get done this way.
So, first of all, for those just starting out, really, don't worry about your own perceived gaps. Kindergarten is letters and counting and coloring. I hope that you know that. Start there, and don't borrow trouble from tomorrow. As you go, you can either learn with your child (I never expected to study Latin), or you can find people to help you fill in your own gaps.
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