Letting it go

One of the reasons why I think the Waldorf philosophy is so vital in our modern lives is that it really brings us back down to earth in terms of what is really important for children. While sometimes I despair that the sort of lazy, down-shift, pj-loving attitude of my kids means that we rarely "get anything done," lately I've been reminding myself that Stuff and its Doneness is not what I should be focusing on when they are 3 and 5.

(Break for Ezra Science: "Before the cold couldn't get inside (the corndog) [with accompanying noises of cold air--- phh, phh, phh] and before the steam couldn't get outside [ssssp, ssssp, ssssp, ssssp]. But when Isis pulled the crust... the bread off, they (the steam and the cold air) could go the other way. And the hot could go outside and the cold could go inside. Bye-bye. See you tomorrow. The end. Write that part down mommy.")

As I was saying... well, that was sort of a case in point. We sort of skipped our main lesson work this morning because the kids were playing so nicely for once that I felt like it would be akin to putting mustard gas inside the UN of Sibling Relations if I broke them up. I read the Brothers Grimm story "The Vagabonds" over breakfast. We did do one of the oil + water experiments that Ezra loves so much--- here I have to completely give props to Alyssa, our nanny, who gamely covered the kitchen counter and table with a variety of similar experiments while I was in class yesterday--- but that was about it.

So am I worried that Ezra isn't learning "enough"? Well, he hasn't done a single worksheet since early May. He hasn't had to sit at a desk and be alternatively bored and frustrated. He's stayed up ridiculously late to look at Jupiter and the four Galilean moons with his father, he's heard countless books and stories, he's learned about causality and the manipulation of space/time, he's practiced Roman numerals and the Fibonacci sequence, and spent more time in a tri-corner hat in Colonial Williamsburg than any sane person would voluntarily spend. 

I asked him to tell me something that he's learned since he started homeschool. "To eat people's eyeballs," he said, simulating a chomp at my own. 

Well said.