ethan wasnt doing his jobs the other morning. “ethan, what r U doing?” i asked him. “practising being a genius,” he replied. fair point.
my boyz dont go 2 school. they have fun & intresting lives & as a result they R naturally productive & creative.
when we were in germany they found a baby mouse. in fact they saved it from the cat. despite our warnings & attempts 2 persuade them otherwise, they found it irresistably cute & wanted 2 keep it as a pet. they made a bed 4 it & tried 2 feed it & give it a drink. within 24 hours it was dead & there were tears & a burial.
peter dawkins, a thinker whom i greatly admire & respect, says the number one book worth reading is the book of nature. that studying nature reveals all the lessons we really need 2 understand abt life. this was a great example of nature delivering a lesson no schoolroom cld teach. a number of lessons really: abt responsibility, abt not trying 2 intervene in the natural order of things, abt attachment, mortality, & more things besides.
it also made me think abt something i had read regarding incidental vs structured learning. structured learning is imposed, it comes from sitting in a classroom. incidental learning occurs spontaneously, & happens organically. incidental learning is much more powerful & sticks with us in a way that structured learning doesnt. which is why i cant remember anything from biology lessons in school but i can remember almost word 4 word the 1st conversations i had with a boy (ian) i had a crush on when i was 14.
thankU little mouse, u were a great teacher.
