Thoughts on schooling

Gabriel and I finished his social studies and science textbooks quite some weeks ago, but I've done my best to pace math, reading, and handwriting so that he has work to do until June. It's good for him as he really enjoys the time at the table and I appreciate the focus it gives him for even just a small portion of the day. But today, the outdoors were calling and Aubrey is needing me an extra lot, so after completing a couple pages of math, I popped rainboots on Gabriel, Bronwyn, and Jackson and sent them out to play.

It's true: Gabriel is not completing pages in a textbook at this very moment and some might very well say that he is not "doing school," but he is learning and exploring and gaining a great deal, even now.

1. He is appreciating the outdoors-- the world God has created and the place in it He has put him.
2. He is building relationship with his brother and sister-- learning to love and lead and watch out for them.
   
3. He is getting fresh air and better exercise than any gym class could afford him-- one only needs to watch him for a few minutes to know this!
4. He is learning to work-- we give him "jobs" like raking the dirt in the garden beds, covering the groundhog holes with sticks and large rocks, picking up garbage the pedestrians who walk by frequently toss into our yard *pause for a moment while I repent for my anger about this*, and watering the tulips.

I'm not saying there isn't a time for sitting down at a table and working through a list of arithmetic problems, or sounding out letters and putting them together into words, or reading about people who live in other countries and eat different food, or cutting and pasting paper to create something, or practicing for the hundredth time how to properly write a "q"-- because there certainly is!-- but simply that schooling, education, is so much more than what we often think of. And I love that homeschooling allows me to see that for myself, day in and day out.

For a kindergarten student, learning how to dust the table and gently handle Mom's breakable decorations is an important kind of learning. Folding laundry is another one. More: speaking kindly, repenting and extending forgiveness, laughing and playing together as a family, sharing, being respectful. And working side-by-side with Dad as he turns the sod in the vegetable garden, discussing the worms and why they're good for the soil and beaming with pride at the feeling that he is no longer just a "little kid" but a valuable and important partner in the care of our home, is oh-so-important! I daresay that for a six-year-old man-child, such education (if one must choose) is far superior than that of learning the difference between a short and long vowel sound.

So, yes, if you came to my house right now, you might wonder why we're not "doing school" on a school day. And I will tell you with a satisfied sort of knowing that we certainly are.