Busy Busy Busy

Flipping busy I tell you.

Not me, exactly. Well I am busy but mostly keeping up with the girl that I refer to here. Echo is so busy! I don't know who wakes up more eager for the day, Echo or Henry-dog. Henry prances with utter delight when the day begins. He tip-toes and paces and stretches and sneezes and SCREAMS with his huge eyeballs to  Please please please finish peeing and go down the stairs and tumble KIBBLE into the bowl!!! His butt almost passes his head on the way down he's in such a hurry.

But Echo is equally gung-ho! Her brain goes from dreaming to planning in a millisecond. By the time she has stretched her little peach head over to my face she has ideas. Ideas that can't be kept waiting, ideas that have no patience for mamas that aren't yet fully awake, ideas that start before the sun warms the curtains. And really I am just the support team. I toss water and food at her as she flies past, deep in the throes of serious imagining. I have homeschooling ambitions and plans, workbooks and "shoulds" tapping their toes in displeasure, but really if you could just watch this kid for five minutes you'd pshaw the shoulds as well.

For one, she plays in a British accent.

I think she should be left to her imaginings for this reason alone. A British accent and a huge vocabulary stream out as she goes about her plans. There are several trips up and down the stairs, and several characters developed.

Here is her "husband", who was in "jail and dying" and in need of transport from the jail to the doctor. (Really it's a foam bumper, the kind you put under the sheet to keep a kid from falling out of the bed.)

 

She only stops to ask questions.

• Mom, what's the difference between legal and illegal?
• Mom, what does queasy mean?
• Mom, is forty plus twenty, sixty? Because I think it is.
• Mom, a meerkat's closest relative is a prairie dog. So can you help me make a den to fit all of these stuffed animal dogs? I'm making a meerkat manor.
• Mom, how tall am I in inches?
• Mom, do you spell little, L-I-T-T-L-E?
• Mom, I need to make a chart of words I am using and words that are in the "holding section". Can I do that?

And really she isn't actually stopping she's still moving and building and thinking other thoughts at the same time.

Don't be fooled, this is no ordinary lump of pillows and toys. This is a Meerkat Manor deep in the Kalahari desert.

 

And Echo always does me one better. I made flashcards of "sight words", words we all use and know so well, not because they are spelled in a way that makes sense, but because we have memorized them. I made them because occasionally I like to feel "official" and occasionally I worry that what we "do" isn't very school-ey. But Echo just whizzed through the stack and immediately moved on to the idea of using the cards to tell a story. So there I am printing out and cutting millions of words for her to assemble into a story that she will staple and illustrate - something way more exciting and interesting than flashcards, no matter how "official".

Seriously, who are we kidding? Why do I even pretend to be her teacher?

By this time it's way later, like nine a.m. Echo's already on breakfast number two, her mind easily gliding as one idea morphs into a better idea, one story develops into a better story, and the fort/manor/house develops into a bigger fort/manor/house with ever more blankets, props, and stuffed animals.

At one point today I tossed out the yoga mat figuring I could do some stretching between questions and fort-help requests but Echo quickly dissembled the part of her fort that included a yoga mat, stretched it out next to mine and did %80 of an intense ashtanga yoga practice with me. She stayed with it, bending her body in ways that resembled mine sometimes but breathing deeply, smiling serenely, and staying absolutely silent for over an hour. 

Yoga mama and daughter. (You know I love you if I am willing to put this picture on the blog- messed up hair and all.)

 

But really. Sometimes I wonder: Who is this kid?

I suppose we all wonder that. Who are these incredible beings created from hope and mist? Who are these folks with their own minds, their own interests, their own opinions? Who am I to think I know who they are? What they should be doing, thinking, or saying?

Tonight I'll crawl into bed and wonder about tomorrow. I'll sketch out a rough guide for the things we might do and the things we need to do. I'll catalog the homeschool goals and settle on a couple options to enhance my girl's learning.

Then morning will come, Henry will silently scream for kibble, and Echo will take off running, following her brilliant mind and the urges of her own development. She'll derail any scholastic plans I have up my sleeve by fervently, wildly, joyously learning the whole day long.

Comments

[Kay]

Love it!
I'm curious - is there a story about the little stool perched on the armchair, with a bunny, book and cube on top (and something green underneath)?

[Natalie]

According to Echo: The stool is a bedside table. The bunny shoots light out of it's eyes for a nightlight. It also functions as a phone of sorts. The child whispers in one bunny ear and the parent in the other so they can talk to each other at night. The cube is medicine for growing pains. The book is a lullaby book. The green thing is the mom's purse.

I can only imagine how it all looks in her eyes. It must look like a REAL house with very clear details.

[Kay]

Thanks, Natalie, for interviewing Echo and relaying it here - and thanks, Echo, for sharing, that was really fun for me! :)
(And this bunny sounds like a great idea - now I wish I had one of those on my bedside table.)
xo

[Mary Leveque]

Yes, that sums up homeschooling so well.

[Rachel]

LOve this post so much:
1) picture of gorgeous you!
2) funny Henry dog details
3) Echo inventing her own school day
4) Um, have you considered that she has a very high aptitude for words (literary genuis...shhhh....just saying)
5) words in the "holding section."

[Melissa]

Her way of learning sounds just beautiful. It can be hard for me sometimes to just relax around the idea that my son's play, imaginings, questions and thoughts really are enough, and to let go of the "shoulds." Thanks for sharing! :)

[Staci]

you don't judge echo for messy hair, nor do we judge you for it! all i see is a strong, happy mama sharing something she loves with her strong, happy daughter.

[Natalie]

Aw, Staci your comment makes me tear up a little bit!