You Can't Stop The Learning

Once again, Jen over at Gricefully Homeschooling has inspired me! 

No matter how long we take on this responsibility of teaching our own children, we never reach the place of thinking we have it all together.   In fact, it's usually just the opposite voice, playing over and over in my head:   "you're not doing enough!"

However, sometimes our kiddos bless our socks off by revealing knowledge we didn't even know they had.  Such was the case on December 7th, when I asked David to talk to Collin about Pearl Harbor. 

Actually, I had bugged David a few times that day about making sure Collin knew the significance of that day.   Not unlike other significant days on the calender, Mom had forgotten to prepare any info for that specific historical date, and I was counting on my "I minored in History in college" husband to do the work for me!

So, as it turned out, David and Collin were going somewhere in the car that night and David thought it would be a good time (while Collin was held captive in the car), to use the 10 minute drive to educate our son on the events of that day in History.     Little did he know, he was about to be educated on how much our kids learn, when we're not looking.

When presented with the question "how much do you know about Pearl Harbor?"  Collin preceded to talk David's ears off, for the next 10 minutes, on all the facts about what happened that day, what caused the events, who was involved, etc.     David was shocked!  And when he came home and told me how it all went down, I was shocked too!

Of course, the first and most obvious question was "where did he learn all of that?"  And the answer is..........

Why on Adventure in Odyssey, of course.  Where else?

For those who don't know about Adventure in Odyssey, they are stories created by Focus on the Family, about a town named Odyssey.   My kids have been listening to these stories all their lives and unless we are out of town or spending the night somewhere else, they have never missed a night of going to sleep to the sound of Mr. Whittaker and the gang.   (Well, Ted has moved on, since he's 18, but Collin still listens every single night.)

Sometimes the stories are about historical figures and events, and sometimes just dealing with morals and character issues.   But, they are always about pointing to God and his involvement in our lives.

And, honestly, Collin has learned so much from these tapes (and others such as Jonathan Park), that if they would figure out how to teach math by telling stories, Collin could have graduated by now!

Anyway, the point of this whole thing is that we moms worry too much!

Here I have a 12 year old who can't even take a 5 minute car ride without a book in his hand, and I'm worried that if I'm not sitting at the table with a stack of textbooks in front of us, he's falling behind.  Rubbish!

Kids are like little sponges and even when they aren't aware of learning taking place, it's still going on.

And that puts this mom at ease; even during this crazy Fall, when we've spent more time on the road and at the hospital with my dad, than we have with the books. 

Now, if you need more inspiration and confirmation, hop on over to Jen's blog and read about how her kiddos have been learning without books.   You'll feel better.   I know I do!