Rambles and ramblings

Yesterday we took yet another walk. It leaves me with several themes spinning around in my head.

Actually we took two walks: one to a place I’d never been, and one to the place I walked to on Sunday because the girls wanted to go. Mostly we were capitalizing on a sunny day, but I’d also wanted to find some trails where we could take the dog, and the first walk allowed us to do this. A good time was had by all.

I’m not sure why I’m so into nature walks. This is really the first year I’m doing this so much. I did grow up taking walks in the woods, but it’s something I haven’t really known how to do in this area. This year I’ve been working to find some options for doing it, and it’s amazing to me how readily the girls get onboard with any passion Mom has.

A few years ago, the whole fam took a walk in some woods on a Sunday afternoon, and it was full of squabbling, feigned exhaustion, and fear. (That wasn’t even the time we met the grinning gentleman with the gun and the grocery bag full of dead squirrels. But that’s another story…)

But this year, the kids are eager for these outings. Yesterday they packed (unbeknownst to me): flip flops for wading; camera; a bird book; plastic horses to play with in the stream; a towel to dry wet feet; water bottles. I saw the backpack, but I was quite impressed by what came out. (All I had was a camera, a book and a map. I should learn from these gals.) When we hear a woodpecker, a songbird, or, as we did yesterday, the eerie chortle of a turkey vulture, they stop and look around and whisper. It’s really wonderful.

The difference is that I’m all enthused about it, and they like it when I’m enthused. It makes me realize, sorrowfully, how little I’ve been enthused about in our schooling this last year. Passion transfers; unfortunately, “let’s-get-this-checked-off-the-list-as-quickly-as-possible” does too. Excitement is contagious; unfortunately, dreary dutifulness is too.

The good news is that these walks are showing me how much we all really do enjoy learning together. It’s what I pictured when I first considered home schooling, but it gets lost all too easily in the dailyness of workbooks and reports. I’m challenged to rethink things, to figure out what I really want the girls to gain from their education, and to strip away the aspects of what we’re doing that don’t contribute. There are some things from the classical approach that I’ll definitely retain, but I find myself getting glimmers of a different perspective on their education, one that comes not from a book but from my own head and heart. (Combined with good ol’ state regulations, of course.)

I’m also giving some thought to the “s-word”: socialization. So easy to be busy. But structured busyness doesn’t always equal relationship. I’m trying to tweak my ideas about it a little, to define what social life really looks like. Eventually I’ll get these things figured out. May this be the summer of crossing from here to there.