Well. It went something like this. We read a lot, Alice and me, when she was little. And she read independently at the age of three. I thought to myself, well, if I teach her at home, surely, even if I mess up really badly, my three year old can already read, so at least there is that.

One day, early in our homeschooling career, when Alice was particularly interested in birds and their eggs, I thought, hey, I could use one of her favourite books, Are You My Mother to study eggs.  And birds.  So, considering I read it to her at least forty times a week anyway that this would be a tidy little life sciences study to record in my tidy little Notebook To Record Her Learning.  

So, the next time we picked up Are You My Mother, I was so excited and  pointed out little facts as we read about eggs and birds.  She wasn't interested.  At all.  She was only interested in nests.  Somewhere in her developing little psyche the gears had switched from eggs to nests.  But I, in a moment of stubbornness, waxed on about eggs while she asked me intriguing questions about nests.   

But honey, look at this picture of a chick developing inside the egg! 

How does the bird build a nest?  Why do different bird nests look different?  How do they carry the stuff they need for the nest in their beaks?  Why don't they just sleep in bird houses?  Why don't we just use a nest?  Are nests comfortable?  Why don't the chicks fall out?  Why don't birds build their nests on the ground?  Do you have any pictures of nests?  Have you ever seen a real nest up close?   

For every egg fact, she added two nest questions.  After ten minutes of this, I revised my educational plan. Forever. Like, trashed it.

Plan very little, provide a rich environment, ask lots of questions, own a set of encyclopedias and enjoy the ride.  Set aside time every day to do some sit down work, like dictation and math, build good learning habits and a sense of self discipline.  Model the behaviour you want to see in your child (this, my friends, is the very toughest part of the program).  And, keep your heart in the moment and your eyes on heaven. 

So.  That idea just grows up with the child.  And on into adulthood.  From nursery rhymes to story books to novels, it is all the same thing.  I think to study a story book, a poem, an historical figure or event, a novel or ANYTHING on the face of the earth for all that.  It is all the same thing.  For everything we want to study, we ask the questions.

These are the topics I'll attempt to address over the next couple of weeks:  dictation, math, self discipline, building good habits, modelling, staying in the moment... 

I keep six honest serving men,
They taught me all I knew,
Their names are what and where and when 
And how and why and who.  

Rudyard Kipling