Patrick's Day - Homeschooling At Its Best

My 8-yr. old son, Patrick, came flying into the house the other evening all excited. He wanted to know what we were having for supper and if we could eat outside. I told him what we were having and asked him if there was a particular reason he wanted to eat outside. It seems he didn't just want to eat out side but he wanted to cook it outside too. I assumed he meant on the barbecue grill but then he shared what he wanted to cook. Soup.

Now I had never barbecued soup but I was open for suggestions. So I proceeded to ask him why he wanted us to cook soup on the grill.
"Mom," he said, "Not on the grill. I want to cook it on my thing I made. You know like the pioneers cooked on."

"Oh, I see," said I, with eyebrows slightly raised.

Now without seeing what he had made, and without flat out telling him no, I tried to skirt around the issue and sent him back outside. Within in minutes he was back.

"Don't you want to come look?" He said.

So off we went into the yard. Sure enough there in our backyard, on a mound of dirt we are building a driveway on, was a spit type thing. Two sticks stuck firmly in the ground with a stick tied to each of those across the middle. Didn't I think it would hold a pot of soup he wanted to know? Frankly, I did not but not wanting to be a spoilsport I said I would try to think of something. I was sincerely hoping the matter would go away although he had done a darn good job!

Approximately 1/2 hour later he came flying into the house. "Mom, guess what? Dad said I could cook on my campfire place!"

Now this surprised me, as I am usually the one who will try anything for the sake of education while Dad is way more reserved. So I went out to verify that Patrick had not mistaken what Dad had said. And yep, Dad had said he could. I rolled my eyes and walked away. Tomorrow was the big event. Dad had wisely allowed a bit more planning and reinforcing of the spit. It was also beginning to get dark.

The next day was Sunday and as we left for church I noticed a serious improvement in the cooking spot. There was now a neat circle of stones and a small pit under the spit. The charcoal bag was waiting beside the stones. I asked my husband if he had done that. Nope, he said, Patrick had. It looked really great!

So after church off to the market we all went for marshmallows and chocolate bars to make S'mores. My husband had talked Patrick out of Bush's Baked Beans and cooking in a pot since we didn’t have one that would work on the spit. Back home we went with our campfire supplies. Dad helped Patrick get the charcoal going, then they sharpened sticks for marshmallows. Then Patrick along with his 10-year-old and 5-year- old sister had a grand “pioneer” meal. They just knew they had chocolate back then.

What is the point in all of this? We are a homeschooling family whose children have learnt the delight that comes from trying new things on their own. They have also learnt to experience in various ways the books they read. We had been reading about pioneers at this time. This is what learning and homeschooling is all about! The freedom to put off the textbook and learn for ourselves is one of the many blessings of homeschooling. The joy of discovery, the delight of doing it yourself, the wonder of experiencing another period in time and especially, for Patrick, the wonderful pleasure of not being told no.