Walking Therein

Learning Never Stops

10:37 PM, Sunday, May 20, 2007 .. Posted in Seeking Rest in Heart and Home .. 4 comments .. Link

Some of the very best and most remembered lessons from my childhood were neither in the private school I attended nor the public school, but rather, from my Dad at home. Dad adopted us when I was 6 or 7, but he was always Dad who was constantly teaching and guiding us.

Mom worked full time, and Dad had home businesses for as long as I can remember. He was darn-near genius, and always took time to teach us things, because that was his forte, and he knew it. There were summers we went with him to his construction jobs and mostly stayed by the vehicle, but there was probably a lesson in that, too!

I know my children could probably tell you a few stories I keep re-telling from what I learned from these lessons. One I remember best is The Vacuum in the Closet Lesson. It seems so simple now, but back then it was another stepping stone in the life application learning process Dad favored. I must have been 11. That means my brother was 10, and my sister was 8. The Vacuum in the Closet Lesson was a simple task to put our upright vacuum into a narrow opening in the hall closet. You couldn't just put it into the closet, though he insisted it would fit. He gave each of us the chance to figure out his little challenge. I was last, since I was oldest. We were used to such little 'tests' of our thinking skills. It ticked us all off immensely as kids, but as an adult, I am so thankful for it. I have recounted this incident so many times in my mind, for some reason. Maybe it's because I figured it out. After trying to fit the square peg into the round hole, so to speak, I stepped on the lever and dropped the bottom so it was straight and lifted it into the space. I remember being so proud of myself that I figured it out. Dad said, "I knew you could do it."

One big thing with Dad was brushing our teeth. Though it wasn't a test, his constant reminding and asking is another habit that stuck with me. Everyday, every night: "Brush your teeth."; "Did you brush your teeth?" We knew the how and the why. And not the short version, either. It was annoying for us. He even said just last month, "So, Jac, how are your teeth? Are they healthy?". Now, I have beautiful teeth. Straight teeth. He did me right by making me understand and making me take care of my teeth when I really didn't understand the importance of it.

I have said to our children so many times in the past year that I can't believe I wasn't homeschooled. Every summer was spent learning something - yeah, every day was. We played ball, all 3 of us. I was the pitcher on my team. My daily pitching practice was all about the science of tossing the ball. How to toss it; where to toss it; how to step; how many steps to take. Same thing with my brother. The science of baseball. Where do we throw the ball and why? Why do we throw it ahead of the runner? I remember learning the science of bowling, too.

I could have easily been homeschooled. I really am surprised I wasn't. I feel like I was. The person, the teacher, I am today is because of my home-learning, not because of the private or public schools I attended. There are few learning memories I have from my ps education. I do remember a few teachers I really liked, who were hands-on teachers I know I learned from, but I don't remember the lessons. I was the student who only did the lesson to completion because I had to. It was by rote, and I didn't much enjoy it anyway. I was the lazy smart girl who didn't want to be in school, so I did what I had to get by. I couldn't do that at home, under Dad's watchful eye.

He taught me my algebra. He taught me how to remember parts of speech and their uses. He wanted to teach me.

When we wanted to divide up the family room so I could have my own room, we built the wall, put it up, painted it. We learned how to hammer, measure, think about the plans and why.

When I wanted shelves on my wall, we designed an elaborate 1/2 wall shelf and measured and cut, routing each board.

Since I loved to draw and paint, I was encouraged to draw a mural behind it.

We learned fire safety, campfire building, etc. on our camp trips. We learned about hot marshmallows... need I say more?

Everything was a mini unit study. Sounds like the Dixon Homestead Homeschool - our Living Learning Moments. I guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

I loved reading. I loved old movies. Movies that made you think. I owe that to Dad, too. I remember he and Mom taking us to a viewing of the black and white Night of the Living Dead. Why would he do that? What a creepy movie. What a low quality of film-making. Like the other kids I went to school with in 8th grade would even care about it. He was showing us culture. Or the time he took us to Captain Alexander's The Wharf restaurant for my birthday and ordered (yuck!) oysters on the half-shell! Culture. Then, at the 'cookout' for my birthday party, he told me to open the 'box of hamburgers', and I open the box to find these huge claws and beady eyes starin' me down... He had lobster flown in from Maine! Live lobster we smoked on the campfire. Culture. Weird? maybe, but culture all the same. He was showing us a glimpse of life we may have never seen otherwise. Genius.

Things haven't changed much with Dad, in the teaching area. The last time I was at Dad's, our conversation, though on an adult level of mutual respect, was a lesson from the Master to the student. A lot of our phone conversations are about learning. When we discuss planting the garden, something we did not do when I was a child, there are lessons to be learned. Why? Because he is still learning. He loves to learn new things. He loves the way we teach our children. He can't believe what they know and how "they aren't your regular kids".

Learning is a lifetime experience. It should be that way. Our brains do not stop learning and experiencing, and we shouldn't live like school is the official learning place and time. Mom and Dad have been divorced for 15 years or so, but she commented sometime recently that one thing she credits him with is that he did teach us to think. To think. Learning at home, experiencing the lessons taught me to think. It's why I believe in myself. I know why I think what I do. It's part of why I can teach our children. Even when I didn't know it, that training was the best learning I had. It equipped me to teach our children life's lessons.

As I sat here typing this afternoon, Eric's Daddy, my dh, is explaining the difference between a gas and a solid in reference to something in the kitchen, probably the rotten beans on the counter... Oh, ok, it was our 7 year-old Hannah asking why there are bubbles in the Dr. Pepper. Now, as I finish up, Eric has gotten out the atlas because he is curious to find Hollywood, FL. (yes, I typed FL)

"No, son, Hollywood isn't in Florida," says Dad.

"Oh, is it in California?"

Dad sits down to help him look at the map of California.
And another lesson begins.

Life is good. Learning at home makes it great!

Blessings!
Jacque

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