Smrt Lernins

Our first day of homeschooling went exceptionally well. Not only did Captain Science learn more in a day than he probably would in the entire first week of public school, but he actually had fun doing it. At one point, he made a mistake while writing (didn’t shape the letter perfectly), and began verbally deriding himself, saying, “I messed up! Oh, man, I messed it up and I have to fix it!” I put my hand on his shoulder and looked right into his eyes.

“Are we turning this in?” He shook his head no.
“Are we being tested on this?” He shook his head no.
“Can I read it?” He nodded.
“Is the answer right?” He nodded.
“Then it’s right,” I told him. “I’m not going to make you redo it or erase it. As long as I can read it and it’s the right answer, it doesn’t have to be perfect!”

I could see the Captain’s body visibly relax. “I bet Mrs. [Bad Teacher] expects it to be perfect!”
“You’re right,” I said. “I bet she does, but SHE isn’t perfect, either.”

What really struck me most about today is how much I enjoyed homeschooling. I didn’t see any of the tension we had doing homework. He didn’t argue, backtalk, or fuss about doing his work. He was engaged and excited, and so was I!

I can’t wait until tomorrow. How weird is that?

Captain Science's First Day of School

Perhaps I haven’t mentioned this yet, but we’re secular homeschoolers. We’re a very research-oriented, science-oriented, “spiritual, but not religious” family. In that spirit, we are using BCE/CE, not BC/AD, for dates on our timeline and other history work.

My mother came to pick up The Tank (our three year old) while we were putting dates on our timeline. I thought my mother, with her background in biology and chemistry, would appreciate our use of BCE/CE, so I prompted Captain Science to explain it to her. He remembered that BC stood for “before Christ,” but couldn’t immediately remember what BCE meant (he guess “before Christ’s era”).

We talked, again, about why some people use BC and others use BCE. When asked why some people would use BC, “before Christ,” he answered, “Because of religion.”

When asked why we used BCE, “before common era,” the Captain looked thoughtful for a moment, and then answered, “Because we’re common?”

Well, yeah…but we’s good people.