"Mom, I like two kinds of nuts, now", my 6 year old said. Here's the needed background information. During the Christmas season we put out a bowl of mixed nuts (in the shell). Nick excitedly shelled one of each variety and tried it. He discovered that he only liked walnuts. Fast forward four months. We put out another bowl of mixed nuts (in the shell). Again, Nick shelled each variety and this time exclaimed, "Mom, I like two kinds of nuts, now." He added pecans to his list of likes.
Homeschooling/Learning is like this. As a mom I offer many opportunities each day for learning. When at the library, I choose many genres of reading material, music, videos, magazines, books on tape, games and framed artwork to bring home. As the three weeks go by the kids peruse through this pile, sometimes they find a treasure, other times not. They pull out a book on aliens browse through the pictures and put it back in the pile, not interested this time. Many times they pull the same book out day after day and put it back, still not interested. Then the Aha! moment comes, on day 10 they sit down on the couch with that same book on aliens and beg me to read it. It finally struck a nerve with them. I have to remind myself not to give up the first time, especially when it comes to reading or writing without hesitation. Each day is a new day and our likes and dislikes are always changing. Go with the flow and don't give up.
By the way, Nick is totally interested in aliens. We watched E.T. this afternoon and are in the middle of reading a 10 book pile of extra terrestrial books.
