Sponges

When I am driving, I like to look at the map. Listening to somebody give me directions just stresses me out as I end up repeating the directions in my head and making a wrong turn.

This morning we found ourselves watching a World War 2 documentary thanks to my five year old who has been asking non stop war questions since we left the USS Midway yesterday. He can now tell you the premise for the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and WW2 which exhausted all my knowledge without diving into books. "Just let me know if it gets to be too much and we will turn it off," I said. "Turn it off," he said when we saw our first dead civilian. We went on to watch a documentary on the Inuit and Austin has let me know that he is thinking about moving up there and becoming an Inuk when he moves out.


When I am relaxed about what they are learning or how they are learning, they learn. When I try to force it and say "read to me" and Austin's face scrunches up and he doesn't feel comfortable in his body and he starts twisting and turning and trying to look at the book upside down, learning doesn't stop, but it is much more painful.


Their minds remind me so much of a sponge, the sea kind. When they are relaxed and floating along information just passes right into them. They absorb and float on to the next thing. When I push and pull and the sponge is stressed, it's harder to get the information in and I don't think it has much staying power.

"I like when things are based in a story," Austin let me know. He was talking about our math program, Life of Fred, and listening to his audio books and Mike's stories and this book series that he reads from on my IPad. He loves to get lost in the story and retreat to a corner to listen. The stories continue in his head as he goes to lie down and comes back with questions over what we heard and how it relates to one another.

Oliver is building a blacksmith shop out of Legos right now. Detailing the fire pit, the water jug, and ways to pick up the metal pieces because they don't have wooden handles. He has a trailer to haul materials and I know he is thinking back to last Wednesday when my mom and I took the kids to Old Town. Oliver loved the live demonstrations and loves to get his hands on materials to play with. He can play with boats, or crabs or games all day and loves a good work book to write in. It's best when he is given this freedom as it's not as much fun for him or myself when he just sits and listens.

By teaching the boys, I learn about myself. I learn about Chris and I think we (the adults) learn to see strengths in our differences. When we are living in such tight quarters, I can't help but think that this is a really good thing. We realize some of us need to see so we can hear and hear so we can see. Of course, when nothing is working, we all love a good movie!