Time out for spring!

This week is forecast to be the first stretch of several spring-like days in a row for 2006. Thus, Brianna and I are chucking the curriculum and getting the garden going. Today we looked over all of our left-over seeds from the past 2 years, got germination tests going on some that were iffy, and made a list of what we need to buy. Still to come this week: test the soil, work in whatever organic fertilizer is needed, start planting spinach, lettuce and peas in the earth, and sow some seeds in flats to start indoors. Phew! It's quite an agenda, but I'm happy to be starting on it at last.

If Brianna were in school I'd be doing this all by myself, and the funny thing is, I'd be happy about it. I tend to like working alone: "Ah, I can really focus and get this done without interruption!" I would never realize how much I was missing! What a joy it is to hear her ideas and catch her enthusiasm. How amazing to watch her prepare a sample of seeds for germination with such care and skill, then label them diligently with her slow but improving hand. What a treat (a rare one these days) to be engaged in work of real monetary value and benefit to the family with my school-age child -- our garden will likely provide us with hundreds of dollars worth of food and gifts.

When I decided to put aside our usual routine to work on the garden this week, I initially thought of it as setting aside homeschooling and having some fun. Silly me! I should know by now that learning happens BEST when you're having fun. Simply by making our lists and testing the seeds she learned:

* the difference between annuals and perennials, or "why we don't need to buy more mint seeds even though last year's seed package is empty"

* the meaning of the term "shelf life", or "why we *do* need to buy more parsley seeds, even though there are some left from 2 years ago"

* the meaning of "germination"

* why we plant some seeds now and others later

* how to sprout seeds in a paper towel

* the value of testing a sample

And much, much more. She also got to practice her handwriting without realizing it by eagerly helping with the list and labeling the baggies containing the germination tests. Shhhh, don't tell her it was good practice -- she "hates" handwriting! ;o)

Following in our Footsteps

Demographer Phillip Longman claims that the "liberal" world view is at risk. (The Demographics of Liberalism) It seems "faith and family" types have more babies, and since more of those folks currently identify as "conservative", then the conservative world view is likely to win out. Hmmm. I'm not buying it.

First of all, "faith and family" and "liberal" or "progressive" aren't mutually exclusive value systems. On the contrary, my own politically progressive views grow largely from my understanding of the nature of God and my concern for the future of children around the world, including my own. (I realize that the current trend is leading more religious people to the political right, but trends tend not to last forever.) Second, while I agree with the commentator that over time, people tend to adopt the values of their parents, there is more to the story. I think it's incorrect to assume that there will be no re-interpretation of those values, no molding and shaping of the details by next generation.

While it's comforting to think that children re-shape their parents' values when referring to people who think differently than ourselves, it gets a bit more tricky when we apply that same formula to our own children. I think those of us who take the time to carefully and consciously develop our beliefs and values can easily make the mistake of assuming that our children will adopt our way of thinking. After all, it makes so much sense to us! We find ways to indoctrinate them, either subtly or overtly. The more out-of-the-mainstream we feel ourselves to be -- either to the right or the left -- the more we are likely to do this. We feel the need to counter-act the popular culture, but while our children are young, we seldom really fear they will reject our world view in any significant way.

Meanwhile, many of us have happily taken the scissors to our own parents' world views. We've cut and stitched the parts we liked, tossed the parts we didn't, and added in some scraps from other sources. We've created the unique patchwork quilts that represent our own ways of being in the world. If we are intellectually and spiritually healthy, we are still ripping out stitches and adding pieces here and there from time to time.

It's naive to assume that our own children won't do the same one day. A part of me would love to see my kids grow up and think like me, but I also want them to be who they are meant to be. I will keep my scrap bag of beliefs open so that they may take as many pieces for their own quilt as they wish. I'll try not to give them the hard sell. (No promises!) My only legitimate hope is that they keep the basic pattern of my quilt -- love for family and humanity, integrity, honesty, spirituality, kindness. As long as they hold these most basic of values, what will it matter if they vote for a different candidate than I do or march for a different cause or *gasp!* refuse to buy organic? ;o)

I believe these core values are the ones most reliably passed down from generation to generation. I also believe these values transcend political affiliations, social causes, and even religious beliefs. My own views on certain issues differ significantly from my parents' views, but my core values are rooted deeply in my family of origin. I am thankful to my parents for offering these values in an atmosphere of love, nurture and safety. I am blessed to offer them on to my own children in the same manner.

Tape Again

I rest my case.

Here is the newest dining room wall decoration, this one a product of both children. Alexander made a simple sculpture out of a piece of wire, and they both taped it to the wall. Please note that each strip of tape visible in the picture is actually about 5 strips layered on top of one another.

I may roll my eyes, but I really love their creativity and enthusiasm about the little things in life. :o)

Baby, you can't drive my car

Alexander: Mommy, how do you drive the car?

We were less than a mile from home. He has asked variations on this question several times, so I knew what he wanted. I explained how my foot pressed on the pedal to make the car go, how I had to hold the steering wheel just right to keep the car straight, how I took my foot off the accelerator and stepped softly on the brake as we neared our house, how I turned the steering wheel to the left to turn into our driveway. Foot back on the accelerator up the steep drive, back on the brake while I carefully steer into the garage and stop.

A slight pause, then, "O.K.! I can do all those things! Can I drive the car now?"

Poor kid. At 3 years old, he has such a long wait. This is not the first time he has remarked on the apparent ease of driving, and his confidence that he could do it just fine, thank you very much. When asked what he wants to be when he grows up, it invariably involves driving or operating something big and cool -- a train, a fire truck, an airplane, a crane, a bus.

Brianna just chuckles at him. I think she gets a secret thrill from knowing that she will be in the driver's seat before he will. She doesn't care all that much about driving right now, but she does like to go first!

Educational Tape

My 3 year old son Alexander taped this plastic bowl to the dining room wall today. Why? Who knows? Did he like the pleasing contrast of colors (art appreciation?) Did he wonder how much tape was required to get the bowl to stay in place (Physics?) Perhaps, but I suspect that his real motivation was simply to use tape.

Both my kids love tape. I have an office desk style tape dispenser so that I can (almost) always find it, and so that I only have to buy refills. In case you've never noticed, tape is not cheap! Not when you have homeschoolers anyway. (I imagine all kids like tape, but school kids either get to waste the taxpayer's tape for a good portion of the day, or else simply don't have access to tape while in school, saving their parents' hard-earned dough.) It's worth it though, for the entertainment and, yes, educational value.

The other day, the kids spent nearly an hour taping coins to pieces of construction paper. (Inspired by the tooth fairy, who taped 5 year old Brianna's tooth money to paper so that it wouldn't get lost in the sheets.) They used gobs of tape, and ended up with pieces of paper that weighed at least a pound each. When they were done, I asked Brianna how much her paper was worth. We tallied up the coin values on the abacus, which happened to coincide neatly with her math curriculum, in which she is learning about coins and adding mulitiple quantities of numbers. I think I should deduct the cost of tape on our taxes as an educational expense!