Unschooling in Action

I'm getting the biggest kick out of watching Anna this morning. So far (and I've only been up for 45 minutes) she's covered Math, Science, Conservation, and Popular Culture. She's a HOOT!
She heard a train coming and climbed up in the window to watch. She counted the cars and (skipping a few) counted 55. "Mom, what's 55+55? I think it's 110." My brain's not working yet, so I said, I don't know right off...I try not to think in the morning... so she got out the calculator and added, and she was right! She said, "It's easy, just add 50 and 50 and you get 100, then 5 and 5 are 10, so 110." Okay, it's just too early for my brain to work like that. lol
Then she added more numbers, first in her head, checking on the calculator to see if she was right...cool stuff...
She counted the presidents on the poster we have hanging next to the computer....I guess I should go back and put History in that line-up of *subjects*. ; )
Then she got started in on the stuffed and mounted squirrel we have on the computer desk. After a thorough ckecking over..."I thought squirrels had grey bushy tails?" She began the conservation talk...."How would someone like it if the squirrels shot them and mounted them on a piece of wood? Suppose a deer stalked up on a hunter and shot him? We have to take care of the animals, not kill them and mount them on a piece of wood." By the time she was finished it had turned into a TV show, with Mr. Ed as the narrator!
She's reading as I type this, helping me when I forget something particularly cute she said or did. And correcting my grammer.
But, cute as she is, and as much as she'd like me to keep talking about her, I'm going to go get breakfast.
original date
Thursday March 15, 2007

(Comment from Dawining:
It really is amazing how much math kids pick up on naturally. My son figured out the base 10 thing before I even considered teaching him how to "carry the one" like I was taught in school. I brought my boys to work with me yesterday, and they were able to add concession prices in their heads, helping out the customers. They knew how to count up to make change too. I was so proud they could perform better than most fast food working teens who need the register to tell them how much change to give back!I also have animal lovers in my home. For awhile one son even went vegetarian. I don't know what I'd do without Animal Planet some days!)