I apologize for my lack of entries lately.  Holidays have kept us busy and at the same time we've been going through a lot of personal stress lately.

BUT that's not what I wanted to talk about.  Just this morning I was standing in the kitchen.  My 11yo ds walked in and said, "You know, the Brian books* we've been reading together?  I noticed that they are written in third person limited."

And he went on to explain how he knew that.  Now if you had asked ME what third person limited was, I would have known it had to do with point of view, but I would have had to look it up to know exactly what that particular pov was.  Did I teach him this?  No.  Our great literature/English/writing curriculum?  No.  He learned this from watching a 5 min. video on BrainPop (www.brainpop.com) along with countless other facts as well.  Why did that stick in his mind so he could recognize it when he saw it?  I have no idea. 

Some homeschoolers might feel embarrassed that their kids knew something they didn't.  That they feel they should know more or should be teaching them more.  But this pleases me beyond words. 

If I were to sum up my educational goals for my kids in one sentence it would sound something like this:

I want my children to know how to find out anything they want to know. 

So in keeping with that we've learned to use videos, libraries, atlases, knowledgable people, observation, internet and numerous other things and experiences to meet that goal. Many times I've seen my kids grab a dictionary or atlas off the shelf just to look something up they were curious about.  I love that.

Now I'm happy say that there are lots of things that my kids teach ME.  Things they know that I didn't.  Or things I just didn't know they did know like the fact that S knew who Jackie Robinsion was and why he was important as well as many other things.  

People worry about children having "gaps" in their education.  Well, gaps are unavoidable no matter WHAT method of eduction you use.  But if you can keep your children's interests alive and help to learn to find out anything they want or need to know then you have equipped them for life. 

doulos

*the Brian books I'm referring to are the series by Gary Paulsen:  Hatchet, Brian's Winter, The River, Brian's Return, and Brian's Hunt.  They are great "boy books".  My girls liked them too though.