It started with a library trip and Nehemiah picking out a book that I insisted on him putting back. It was a book on botany and the photography was straight out of the 80’s…early 90’s at best. It looked boring, even to me, the parent. “Buddy, I don’t think you’ll like it. Can you pick something over here in the fiction section?”
We left the library with the botany book that day. I’m sure you’re not surprised. Kids are persistent, and we choose our battles as parents.
Botany is the study of plants. And did we ever study them.
Really, the book was boring for them. I had to read it in an interactive way to keep their attention. But at the end of the book there was this suggestion about how you could be a botanist. Get a bag, a notebook, a pen, some tape, and a magnifying glass and start exploring.
Charis was intrigued by this. She pleaded until she was holding all things botany in her excited clutches. Then we went outside. Zoe and Nehemiah started on scooters, but it wasn’t long before Charis had them all sucked into the exploration. Then we needed MORE notebooks and pens and magnifying glasses.
Luther was right in the middle of it all. Sucking on magnifying glasses and grabbing pens and soaking up the crisp Autumn air.
They drew pictures of the leaves and then wrote their notes about what they discovered. The next day we tried to identify the trees by the leaves. We learned about the parts of the leaf and labeled them.
Another day we learned about photosynthesis and how and why leaves change colors. So cool. Of course we talked about how creative God was to make brilliant oranges, yellows and reds appear in the Fall. They drew diagrams of the process to help them explain the process to Tony.
Another day Charis was asking me what was inside the acorns that they had collected on day one of botany. I told her I knew how we could find out. Cue hammer.
Once the nut was removed it was decided we needed to share it with the squirrel they had seen visiting on their roof outside their bedroom window. So we opened the window and placed the nuts on the roof. For days they would run up to see if the squirrel took the nuts. Eventually they did disappear, and that discovery was met with shrieks of joy.
I didn’t know when walking into the library that day that a weeks worth of homeschooling was about to take place through one very inconspicuous book. I didn’t know how passionately they would latch on to the idea of being botanists. I didn’t know that we would find acorns. I didn’t even think to smash them until Charis asked the question, “What’s inside?”And two minutes later we were literally finding out.
No matter the plans I make in our homeschool journey, by far the best stuff comes out of the natural flow. The willingness to go with the energy, the passion, the questions, the excitement of my kids. Magical moments come disguised in 8o’s books about botany, and i’m learning to just go with it.
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I remember all too well when we were homeschooling and Tony decided he wanted to bring home a book from the library on engines. I thought he would get bored and never read it. I think he was in the 6th grade and it was a book that would have been used by engineers on a college level. He spent the week reading through the book, and then Sam got him an old lawn mower that he took completely apart to understand how everything worked. Homeschooling can be such a time of discovery if we allow our children to take part in selecting what they study. Going with the flow can be exciting and so beneficial. Ask Tony if he remembers.
So cool!!! Straight out of Reggio Emilia. Do you remember Ken Robinson talking about Flow in The Element? Pretty cool, I tell ya.
Laura – I’ll ask him! I remember hearing that story before though. I love it. It’s one of the stories that made me start thinking about homeschooling.
Kenzie – You teach me so much! I couldn’t do this without you.
I love this! As a homeschool grad, I know that days like this are what your kids will remember fondly and learn the most from.
Katie, If I knew you were a homeschool grad, I forgot. That gives me great hope! You are such an encouragement to me in so many ways. Any news on LifeChurch job? I want to meet you in person!
How beautiful! This reminds me of how mothers would have taught their children hundreds of years ago (minus the photosythesis stuff!)
Thank you Vanessa. It’s hard to think outside of the education box sometimes, don’t you think? On rare occasions like these I feel like something went right.