Yesterday my mother-in-law called up and asked if it was a good time for her to stop by. She wanted to show Jacob a little turtle that she'd found in her yard before she went back home to release it. Jacob was totally taken with the turtle. I think it might be the first time he's seen one up that close. It was a tiny little thing and so cute, so that when Jacob asked if we could keep it, I wished I could say yes. But that was good, it opened up the discussion to why we can't keep the turtle and why it's important to return it to its natural habitat, the ecosystem, and all that good stuff.
Today I was mowing the lawn and came across several interesting things that I know Jacob would just love to dig into: Mushrooms, acorns, and things with roots. All of a sudden I got big ideas about all the fun things we could do with them. I harvested two different kinds of mushrooms, several of each: One to (attempt) to grow, one to watch decompose, and one to break apart and examine. I picked up quite a few branches with attached acorns from the oak tree. With these we can talk about what a seed is, what the squirrels do with the acorns, we can count them, we can do decorative art projects with them...the possibilities are endless. The roots will be fascinating in and of themselves. We'll talk all about what roots are, what their job is and how they help the plant live and thrive. We haven't done these things yet because it went from light out to bedtime in very little time tonight, but hopefully when we do I'll have pictures.
It was like nature weekend here. And I have to remember this - that the sporadic lessons are the best ones. I don't have to be a planner, at least not to the extent that I have all the details of each lesson mapped out before we begin. I just have to be ready when the lesson decides to show itself. This is a big part of my philosophy. To stress myself out over not having an idea of what tomorrow will hold is something that might take away from the integrity of what I'm trying to do with Jacob. It will close off my channels so that when something interesting does come along, I won't be paying attention.
Right now I'm very much into all things natural, sustainable living, universal connections...it makes sense that the things I'm teaching Jacob about follow my current train of thought. Learning side by side with him is just what I envisioned. I take interest in something, and out of that comes a lesson for Jacob, but it also works the other way around: He gets interested in something and that sparks my curiosity about a subject too.
My mom always says that, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." So if I can remain open to the possibilities and wonder the world is always providing, then I expect it will become sort of like when the teacher is ready, the lesson will appear.
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