"What time is it on the other side of the world? Is the sun up right now there?"
The preacher and his wife at our congregation just recently returned from a 4 month long missionary trip to South Korea. The homecoming was much anticipated, especially by the kids, and so foreign lands have been on their brains ever since. The other night just before books were to be read, J started asking Mr. Butler about the other side of the world and before I knew it they were having a long conversation all about gravity, the earth's axis, hemispheres and time zones. After several minutes it finally died down and bedtime rituals commenced.
I didn't say anything at the time, but that moment was full of so many things I LOVE. A father sharing his knowledge with his kids. A child curious about the world and thinking beyond only what he is presented with. An environment of safety and dialogue that, Lord willing, will only continue and solidify as they get older. Nothing staged or forced but pure organic learning. As a homeschooler, I leap for joy because #1 I feel successful in facilitating a desire to learn and #2 Science has just been knocked out for the week! Ha! But the interchange did not happen because we homeschool. The interchange happened because the child has been given an environment that encourages learning and a parent has made themselves available for further learning most any time. The fact that the responsibilities of education are on our shoulders in homeschooling just makes us more aware of that valuable opportunity and conscious of its importance in the long term education of our kids.
I'm so excited for more exchanges like this one on any number of topics, but I just can't stress it enough that this is something any child and parent can foster, no matter their 'schooling' status. When you don't homeschool, some if not a lot of the education of your child falls elsewhere. That makes it so easy to isolate education to school hours and homework time only and think of all other time as something else completely. The truth is that learning happens constantly and as parents we can be a huge and positive part of that as long as we're paying attention. When our kids are largely grown and making life changing decisions, my prayer is that they will be so full of little learning moments about this big world we live in and God's infinite presence in it that they will live in a state of growth and honor to Him.
The preacher and his wife at our congregation just recently returned from a 4 month long missionary trip to South Korea. The homecoming was much anticipated, especially by the kids, and so foreign lands have been on their brains ever since. The other night just before books were to be read, J started asking Mr. Butler about the other side of the world and before I knew it they were having a long conversation all about gravity, the earth's axis, hemispheres and time zones. After several minutes it finally died down and bedtime rituals commenced.
I didn't say anything at the time, but that moment was full of so many things I LOVE. A father sharing his knowledge with his kids. A child curious about the world and thinking beyond only what he is presented with. An environment of safety and dialogue that, Lord willing, will only continue and solidify as they get older. Nothing staged or forced but pure organic learning. As a homeschooler, I leap for joy because #1 I feel successful in facilitating a desire to learn and #2 Science has just been knocked out for the week! Ha! But the interchange did not happen because we homeschool. The interchange happened because the child has been given an environment that encourages learning and a parent has made themselves available for further learning most any time. The fact that the responsibilities of education are on our shoulders in homeschooling just makes us more aware of that valuable opportunity and conscious of its importance in the long term education of our kids.
I'm so excited for more exchanges like this one on any number of topics, but I just can't stress it enough that this is something any child and parent can foster, no matter their 'schooling' status. When you don't homeschool, some if not a lot of the education of your child falls elsewhere. That makes it so easy to isolate education to school hours and homework time only and think of all other time as something else completely. The truth is that learning happens constantly and as parents we can be a huge and positive part of that as long as we're paying attention. When our kids are largely grown and making life changing decisions, my prayer is that they will be so full of little learning moments about this big world we live in and God's infinite presence in it that they will live in a state of growth and honor to Him.
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