rudderless

On the Agenda this week

At the Illustrious Free-Range University of the Sisters, this week we are studying:

Biking! We put the magic bell on two days ago and off she went, ringing all the way. No fear, just love for the crazy fast wheels, and the brake. She must have biked a mile yesterday. I’m just thrilled that she loves it.

Potty Time! She waddles into the bathroom every ten minutes to sit. No luck yet, but I’m proud of her determination. I decided to try again this morning after she peed in her diaper and started crying, saying, “I peepee in potty!!! Wanna peepee in potty!” She gets it, she really does. Now to make that body work for her . . .

Bloom did a nice piece on why she homeschools her 4 kids. I’m looking forward to future installments and encourage anyone on the fence about it, or curious about it, to check her blog out. It’s lovely. We get the, “Is she in school yet?” question about five times a week. Sometimes I just say, “Yes, in our own way,” because truly she is. If you define school as a place to learn, we are all in school, in our own way.

Science Class

I can safely say that until today I had no idea how to identify snail poop. Sophie found this critter outside today and we brought it inside to “study him” for a while. We hoped he might show us some slime. And he did. We weren’t bargaining for the poop.

So goes the science at our house. We try to follow her lead. We model curiosity (because we really are curious!) She and John often “do experiments.” Stuff like seeing how long a bowl of ice takes to melt, putting celery stalks in colored water, leaving an egg in vinegar overnight (gross). She has sprouted seeds and is growing her first bean plant. We check out piles of library books about human anatomy, seasons, birds, and botany. She had a minor meltdown one day when a little friend tore a page from her seed catalog. Her special seed catalog!!!

Girlfriend has her own mind, full of questions about the world. It’s magical to see it unfolding, to see her making connections. Some are bittersweet. She’s figured out what it means to die, but not what happens afterwards. “Do you still have your skin when you die?” SHe can identify solids, liquids, and gases- “Farts!!” This week’s fascination is with muscles and bones. How fingers work. On our holiday wish list are a stethoscope and this puzzle, which is just brilliant.

I never liked science at school. Not until high school biology, when it all started to become fascinating. Occasionally we’d come to a unit on the solar system and I’d be engaged, but for some reason the “cool” bits, the biology and anatomy, were few and far between. I remember drawing a picture of the water cycle every year. I know we can give her more than that. In some ways, I think we already have.

When I have doubts or fears about this journey we’re embarking on, taking our ladies’ education into our own hands for at least the near future, I remind myself that we’re mere facilitators. We don’t need to teach. Our only job is to listen, to answer, and to occasionally demonstrate. With Sophie it’s a matter of nurturing her interests and showing her just a tiny bit more of the bigger picture. Curiosity is everything, the rest will follow.