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Job Interviews

 Today I do my second job interview for a nanny/tutor type position we'll need next fall to help with home schooling. I'll do the main subjects during the morning but then I need someone to get them outside, do lighter stuff like science and crafts, and possibly take them to any classes we enroll them in, during the afternoon while I'm working.

I've written up the questions--a mix of basic background info plus some situational/behavioral issues to comment on. But, of course, what I really want to know I struggle to frame.

Will you make the same decisions I'd make? Or will you somehow, inadvertently, promote the negative behaviors I'm trying to eradicate? Will you love my kids just enough to give that extra dose of patience when they are trying you to no end...but not enough that they miss you terribly when you go? Speaking of which, will you be reliable? Will you be on time and make it the whole year without bailing for some better job? 

I am most inclined to want to hire an older person. I would've preferred a newly retired teacher in their early 60s. They are the very epitome of stability, responsibility, and also, a no-nonsense approach to kids. I know my kids wouldn't be trying anything that kind of person hadn't already seen hundreds of times before. But, the one person I found who fit that description had to back out to care for her elderly parents. 

The person I'm interviewing today is in the process of finishing their teaching degree. Next week I do an interview with someone who taught for several years but then went back to nannying (hmm, there's a story there I need to understand). I also got an application from a woman who is my age and a mom of 3 kids but no teaching degree. I dunno. No one is the perfect fit so who is the next best?

One more reason I don't trust the 20s crowd is who knows what woke ideas they'll need to put into my kids' heads. I don't need anyone in my home coming with an agenda to turn 6 yr olds transgendered. This kind of extreme agenda for younger and younger kids is the sole reason we aren't sending them to the local Montessori preschool our eldest boys attended. That group of parents, all university profs, is so woke they can't even have a bake sale without a major social agenda languishing in committee for weeks beforehand.  

So many things I don't want. Every schooling system around us has a major flaw (public school is too rushed and shallow; the private classical school wasn't really classical at all; the new start-up classical school has overtones of white nationalism that make me concerned; the Montessori is so far left they've fallen off the map). It seems like what I want is so simple but nobody is simple anymore. I want a calm environment with high quality curricula and instruction. I want my children to make connections and build meaning in deeply lasting ways. I want understanding through application. I want to use tried-and-true books that have lasted for generations, or new books written in the same tradition as those classic books.   

I just want to pare away all the educational fads and agendas and return to children and books and nature. So basic, but it feels daunting to find someone who might truly share that vision with me.

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