Surprised

[SweetSilver]

I am surprised at how many different organizational systems my girls experiment with.  DD2, 6yo, recently spent a few days interested in categorizing the chutes and ladders in the game.  She would write "L288418" for "ladder from space #28 to space number 84, with 18 rungs.  I think she was attempting to puzzle something out.  DD1 is forever cataloging her paper doll collection, with a similar system of "season", birthdate, name, etc.  They catalog and sort and resort using increasingly sophisticated methods. It's always fun and curious to guess why they are doing it.  Well, DD1 somehow thinks this is going to help me figure out which paper doll is missing... don't think that's going to work, but I don't tell her that!  

I am surprised, having been raised to understand one math function and explore it as fully as possible before moving on to learning the next function, that this doesn't necessarily follow IRL.  We are still dabbling in some basic 1st-grade math at the same time we are learning the idea about division.  Squares and square roots?  Why not?  I am a bit dizzy, trying to find some mental focal point, but that's all a bit silly as it's the planet that is spinning, not me spinning on the planet (or is it the other way round?  The metaphor itself is making my head spin), and the dizziness is all because I still have a lot of deprogramming to do.

I am surprised at how nothing but play seems to happen for weeks, some reading perhaps or some games and lots of gymnastics, then suddenly they are sitting to do their puzzle books, origami, copy work, they are wanting "spelling tests" and "secret code".  Now I know better, and I know this recent spurt of schooly things will cycle out again.  

I am surprised how hard it is to corral families, even if they live right down the road.  I keep finding connections, only to find that somehow it's not staying connected on the other end, or it's not what I was hoping.  Next stop Girl Scouts?  I just keep looking and looking.  I'm not in a rush, but I do feel frustrated.  Grrr.

I am surprised that after years of resisting nothing but Harry Potter (and even that took awhile to click) my nearly-8yo is feeling more adventurous with books I read to her.  We've read 2 books from "the Familiars", began the Percy Jackson series and are now on book #2, read Hound of the Baskervilles and have other Holmes stories waiting.  Except she still won't read any book that begins with "Chronicles".  Sigh.  She also didn't like "The Dark Is Rising" that I adored growing up, but at least she let me start!

More surprises to come, I'm sure.

[Emaye]

What a great thread!  It sounds like your littles are doing great SweetSilver!  They are working their way through life well :)

I am surprised I am unschooling.  Seriously.  When I read about it, I thought it was the craziest idea.  But then I wasn't even open to homeschooling.  And yet here I am.  On most days, it feels like it is one of the best decisions I have ever made.  

Pretty much everyday my son tells me something I didn't know.  I am surprised by how much I don't know and by how much information he is devouring.  He really recalls things well.  

This week, I am surprised that he has no questions about slavery or segregation.  He loves Brainpop and the other day I noticed the video he picked was about this subject.  I expected a flurry of questions and did you knows... but nothing.  I think it is probably because he didn't really understand it at all and he is still trying to work it out in his head. I'd rather not tackle those subjects now so this is fine.  

I am surprised my dd doesn't seem to have any interest in books.  Her brother loved and obsessed over particular ones even when he was her age.  She, on the other hand, really doesn't care for them much.  Not yet anyway.  But she loves to draw and craft.  She spends a lot of time at her desk just doing stuff.  Most of the time I have no idea what she is doing.  She enjoys working with her hands.  

Every afternoon my son listens to the Magic Tree House stories on his ipod.  Every. Single. Day!  He has listened to all 40 stories over and over.  He seems to get something new out of repeating them too.  Today, he asked me if I thought I could climb all the steps in the the Effel Tower.  His vocabulary is also expanding like crazy.  I prepared other audio books for him a few months ago expecting him to tire of these books but nope.  I get the feeling that he will stick with them for a while more.  

He does a bit of math drill on the ipad.  I am surprised by how well he does single digit subtraction and addition in his head instead of using his fingers. 

I am also very surprised how good he has become at putting me in my place!  He is like a little lawyer.  He fully advocates for himself and explains his position.