Histories

In typical Steward-homeschool fashion, my kids came up with something great. Why is it that I stress over whether or not we’re doing school “right.” The days where I am chill and go with their flow are some of the best days we experience. This was no exception.

It started when Nehemiah wanted to play a “pick out all the sharpies in the marker basket and lay them in a row” type game. Then it became a “please can we draw on the biggest paper we have?” activity. Then out of the blue he asks me, how do you spell “Hulia.”

“Spell what, Nehemiah?”

“Hulia.” He repeats again, with added fervor.

“Ummm, I don’t know that word.”

“Just write it,” he says, “right here next to this guy.”

So I do as I’m told.

“What is a Hulia, buddy?” I ask him.

“He lives in the ocean. He eats seashells. And he eats girls’ earrings.” He tells me.

I tell him I better write that down so I won’t forget. I’m pretty impressed with his creativity.

He draws a red oval shape and takes his time coloring it completely in. He asks me to write the name “Fireball” beside it.

Zoe and Charis pick up on the “game” of Nehemiah’s, and they start drawing their own characters.

They fill entire poster-size pages with them. And then they ask me to write out the information as they dictate. It gets really fun and really imaginative.

Then, very last, Zoe names the “game.”

“Mommy? Can you write HISTORIES at the top of my paper?”

“Why am I writing HISTORIES?”

“Because these are all people that lived a long time ago and these are all their stories.”

“Ah, of course.” Brilliant.

A new creative game is born, and my homeschool panic-attack is put off for yet another day.