Docendō Discimus...

...by teaching, we learn. This is my favorite Latin idiom because I have found it to be the most true. I have learned more as a homeschooling mom than in any other role I've ever filled. Fourth grade has taught me a great deal and I'd like to share just a few things...

Lesson One: It is necessary to spend time out-of-doors. Quite apart from the exhilaration of being away from the dishes and laundry that call loudly to me from the various rooms of my home, there's just so much going on out there! There are rocks that must be turned over and sticks that should be broken against solid tree-trunks. Outside you'll find grass that beckons you to roll, stones that beg to be tossed into water, dry leaves that call to be crunched, and seed pods bursting to be torn open. But this is only a small sampling of the excitement. I've not even mentioned all the crawling creatures or the plants!

Also, this is where I have found that God whispers most loudly to me. If I'm engaged in nature, my mind is not distracted by list of things to do, laundry piles, or dusty shelves. I find that I'm completely open to what's going on in front of me and much more likely to hear or see what God is doing.

"Nature study cultivates the child's imagination, since there are so many wonderful and true stories that he may read with his own eyes... All things seem possible in nature; yet this seeming is always guarded by the eager quest of what is true." -Anna Botsford Comstock, Handbook of Nature Study

Lesson Two: A true education should give ample opportunity for Trying New Things. The news that we'll being trying Something New for dinner is usually followed by no small amount of groaning. Roughly 83% of all New Things are distasteful to the nine-year-old palette. However, when dinner is made to be an extension of a geography lesson, a nine-year-old might happily choke down a few bites of Whatever Is On His Plate. The key is to make the dinner a Big Deal. You get some music, make tiny flags, issue a passport, and draw up a fancy menu.

This approach can and does fail from time to time. Weisse Bohnensuppe + Kartoffelknodeln + Apfelschorle = Fehlschlag. The German meal didn't work out; we all ate peanut butter and jelly instead.

Lesson Three: There's really a lot of things that you can do with feet. Take, for example, this science experiment. Is it possible to tell the difference between male and female feet? Apparently so, under certain variables. Folks actually let you take photos of their feet, and then others are willing to sit and look through an entire folio of feet photographs and tell you what they think of them. It's all pretty amazing. Just read the data.

Lesson Four: You can't force art. I'm a fairly artsy, crafty person. I don't think this stems from creative talent as much as from plain ol' practice. I've been creating things I was a wee girl. My grandmother would give me all kinds of beads, wire, thread, canvas and plenty of inspiration. I took art classes all through school. I've been told I have an 'eye' for things (though I think this is simply unfounded rumor).

It turns out that you can't just sit down and explain to someone why certain lines, shapes, or colors look good and why others do not. The only way to get people to 'see' art is to give them sample after sample of the good stuff and hope that they recognize it later. The only way to inspire someone to make good art is to give them art supplies and set them free, over and over and over. At some point (you hope), a piece of work will emerge that will make you shout, "Aha! There it is! There's some art."

Lesson Five: There are two kinds of smart: there's the kind of smart that just knows the answer and there's the kind of smart that knows how to find the answer. I heard this truth at a meeting of homeschool moms this year and it has stuck with me. As much as I would like to fill my boys' minds with lists and tables and names and dates and story-lines and quotes, it's much more important that I teach them how to find the answers that they need. This means teaching them to observe, study, research, experiment, deduce, and reason. They'll need to know how to use the library and the internet to their advantage, sifting the good information from the bad.

Most importantly, I need to teach my children to seek answers from God. No amount of study or practice or work can take the place of sitting quietly at the feet of the One who knows us and has written all our days, the One who created everything and holds it together.