Space in Time

Sher Bear is really good at cracking eggs!

In a previous post, I told you how four-year-old Sher Bear is now in charge of breakfasts.  For the record, everyone is doing an outstanding job with their new posts.  If I made a listing of everything they have cooked, you wouldn't believe me.  So perhaps I need to get my camera out more often.

Here, Sher Bear is cracking eggs for scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese.  We use a dozen eggs for our family at breakfast, so she is cracking all twelve.

About three eggs into it, she noticed: "Hey, Mom, I cracked three eggs and there are (counts). . . nine eggs left!"

"Yes,"  I say "because three and nine make twelve."  Now she is onto something.  And she stops after every egg broken to count and reassess the situation.

I didn't get my camera out until she was down to four eggs.  She sits on the floor as she cracks them, because that is easier for her.

This is the quintessential unschooling moment.  Counting eggs while cooking.  Never mind that it delayed breakfast.  It was worth it.  And that got me thinking.

How much learning is missed because we are too busy and hurried to take advantage of it?  When I started homeschooling with Jor Man six years ago, I was very into the schedule.  We had our days packed, and it wasn't easy fitting in all those subjects along with driving to this meeting and that class.

The times when I stressed and feeling like I am needing to be somewhere or do something - I am not available and aware of the learning moments.  And when I am not present and in the moment - that is when I am gruff and short tempered.

Our schedule has changed drastically due to my illness last year.  There was a while there when I couldn't drive, and I needed to take things one moment at a time.  I couldn't plan things into our schedule, because I didn't know how I'd be feeling.  So we just learned to flow through the day.  First we would do one thing, at whatever pace necessary, and then we might move on to the next.  But I was easy and gentle with myself, and with the kids.   Now that I am better, we've kept the slow schedule, and it is working much better for us.

Wish you were here!