Thankful Thursday - Eager to Learn

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm a big planner. I love the idea of sorting through endless options and deciding exactly what I want to do. However, as much as I've enjoyed planning our upcoming school year, I'm ready to be done planning and start teaching!

But as ready as I am to get started, Noah literally cannot wait. He's been busting into curriculum since it began arriving - sometimes for a sneak preview and other times to actually do some work. Since it seems silly to make him wait until the official start of our school year, I've been letting him explore whatever he wants.

Of course, his eagerness to start may have something to do with the fact that we're studying cars . . . and that was my "aha!" moment for this week. This is what homeschooling is all about for me - presenting learning opportunities that capitalize on my kids' interests. And it was exciting to see it actually working.

Yesterday, he sat down for hours to read from a book on how cars work that was written for teens and adults - not because he had a reading assignment, but because he was interested in the topic and wanted to learn more. And yet I remember assigned reading in school being such a chore - something I could get through to pass the test or write the essay without taking away any significant learning experience.

Instead of teaching science, history, math and language arts topics that someone else has designated as appropriate for a second-grader, we'll be learning about the history of the automobile, the effect of cars on the environment and alternative fuel sources while calculating travel time (based on MPH) and fuel costs (based on MPG) of traveling to our favorite destinations - plus, of course, whatever else he decides he wants to learn about them.

So today I am thankful for several things. I am grateful for Noah to have an experience that is fostering his love of learning . . . and I'm especially thankful to have the opportunity to facilitate it.