Learning

I went for a long walk with a wonderful homeschooling friend of mine who has three teenagers and is, in my book, a wonderful mother. She is kind of like a mentor to me because her children are all older than mine and she has walked the homeschooling path for all those years so her wisdom is extremely valuable to me. We went for a walk in the woods in Gloucester and I had Jonah in carriage and Sadie on bike. We were there because of my concern over Sadie who would be technically going in to 3rd grade this year. I have been so worried that she is not learning enough and that we are not doing enough for her. I have wondered for some time now whether we will not be able to go the "unschooling" way and that I will need to buy a curriculum this year. So I have spent the summer looking at different curriculums including Calvert and Sonlight and Abeka. Last night amidst a glass of wine I almost broke down and bought the Calvert one but I figured I would pay a visit to my friend first.
So we walked and as I was asking her about advantages and disadvantages and what 3rd graders need to know and what we should do all year long Sadie and Jonah played poosticks in the storm drains, noticing all of the bugs and snakes in the drains and talking about different types of wildlife that could reside in such a place. Sadie ran off at one point to discover a toad in the woods and brought it promptly to show Jonah. Sadie and Jonah played by the pond and Sadie found a mysterious thing in the water that turned out to be bait and hooked it to a stick and rigged one up for Jonah and they played fishing for several minutes all the while I am hemming and hawing about how little they are learning and what I am going to do with our days this year. Sadie told my friend all about her summer camp in the woods and pointed out all the birch trees and the different types of butterflies we saw. She talked about the American Eel she had discovered at camp and went hunting for snakes. She threw rocks in the water and saved a few that she would like to take home and identify.
When we got home, Sadie wanted to go to my Buddhist meditation group. She pleaded and begged to come with me. Saturday I had taken her to an adult yoga class because she promised to do yoga and be still and respectful and she was! She loves yoga. She asked me if she meditates everyday for weeks can I bring her then?
At the end of my day I am still a little worried about next year. What if we get caught up again in my own self doubt. Another good friend of mine in my Dharma group who also has teens that have always been homeschooled offered to bring me the Oak Meadow third grade curriculum. Maybe we will try that.
Today I learned a lot.