Friends
When we returned from park day today Evie turned right into the driveway of neighborhood friends. As soon as she did they all rushed forward yelling "Evie!!" I am so glad she has such good friends. We spent three and a half blissful hours at the park, Evie played in the mud and came back full of it. Two friends there mentioned that they were going "take my advice" and stop makng their kids do things. My heart gave a leap of joy, I hope their families are the better for it. Another mom, new-ish to the group, asked what curriculum we used. I laughed and said "whatever the day puts before us!" She asked "Is that affiliated with a religious background?" She thought I was naming a curriculum! After a little explanation she looked at me, stunned, and said "You've never taught Evie anything?" "Not intentionally or only if she asked," I replied. The mom responded, "She's amazing!" I wanted to say "Damn straight!" Instead I supressed the urge to say "thank you" (after all I hadn't done anything) and said "She really is, isn't she!"
We are getting ready for a wild weekend of work, traveling and speaking at our state homeschooling conference. Scott leaves for Scotland tomorrow and Evie and I leave Sunday. Evie will be with my parents until Saturday night while I work and go to the conference. I was feeling overwhelmed this morning with all I had to do when I get home from work tomorrow. I decided aftert he usual morning reading marathon to tidy up a bit. Evie decided to clean. She vaccuumed the living room, including the furniture, dusted and then mopped the floor. Then she did the kitchen floors, vaccuum and mop. Everything looks fabulous and a HUGE weight has been lifted from me.
A final thought for now; I asked Evie why she was so into reading right now (particularly me reading to her). We read for about 4-5 hours a day right now. Her response? "I really love to hear the words and stories wash over me right now, they are filling up my brain!" Wow, that is a cool answer!
A day well lived!
2 comments:
How exciting about your friends deciding (or at least trying it on for size) not to MAKE their kids do stuff! To me, child-led learning is just a logical continuation of what has worked from the beginning -- not just from the beginning of our childrens' lives, but from the beginning of time (school being such a recent invention).
It's so funny how that mom thought you were naming a packaged curriculum ... it reminds me of reading, on a discussion board, a mom's reflection that she'd been using an unschooling approach but then she "ran out of creative ideas," and went back to something more structured. I guess the concept is just too simple for many to readily accept.
Yes, a very cool answer!
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