Miscellaneous Learning Bits

Here is a post I wrote weeks ago, but forgot to finish. So it does re-cover some things I recently discussed, but it's in a different way.

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I have not recorded so many things. People have started saying to me, "You will have to get him to start liking other things besides rockets." Then I start saying that he can learn about math, physics, etc. THROUGH rockets - and I point out that he has drawn literally thousands of space shuttles and rockets in the past several months, too. He is quite skilled!

But then these comments were gnawing away at me and I realized why: I was responding wrong. Because he *doesn't* only care about rockets. He asks me addition and multiplication questions all the time. Last night he was actually drilling *me* with multiplication tables. I have no idea why. And I don't even *know* my multiplication tables!

He also, as I said, loves art. He draws dozens of drawings daily, and he also frequently paints and has always been unusually adept (IMHO) at three dimensional art, like clay. (Gets it from his mama!)

He also loves to sing. He has been a performer since he was a baby. When he was about two he used to sing long songs like "The Cat Came Back" in the chiropractor's waiting room, much to the amusement of all the patients. One time he plopped down in the middle of a coffee shop right after a reading and sang it, too. He has a repertoire of about 20 or 30 songs - from The Sound of Music, to Ween, Eric Clapton, the Beatles, John Denver, lots of Christmas classics, lullabies, etc.

He also used to be really good at piano. He was a Suzuki student for over a year and was making excellent progress; however, he burnt out after about 10 months and I feel a little bit guilty because I think it was not the right approach for a 3-1/2-4-1/2 year old after all. It seemed like an excellent fit at the beginning, because he joyfully played almost every day. But once he got interested in drawing, he wanted to pull back and the Suzuki method does not allow that. So we got a little too obsessed with trying to get him to play, and he has hardly touched the piano now since last May. :( Hopefully he'll get back into it soon. But if not, I at least hope it helped to lay a foundation.

He is also writing all the time and asking questions about what things say, or how to spell them. He has memorized how to spell many useful words, such as "explosion" and "Endeavour" and "launch pad."

As stated earlier, we are usually engaged in reading a chapter book together at bedtime, and right now we are almost finished with Where The Red Fern Grows. Off the top of my head, other books I have read him include: Anne of Green Gables, The Yearling, My Side of the Mountain, The Tracker (most of it), Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, Pippi Longstocking, and Harry Potter.

He is also learning more about real food than most U.S. kids. Though he is not too into cooking, he does occasionally join me. He prefers baking, which I don't do as much of these days. But he knows what animals all the meats come from, knows a lot more vegetables than I did at his age, and is familiar with all kinds of traditional foods such as kombucha, kefir, and sauerkraut, all of which he has helped me make or has at least watched me make.

I guess I could go on and on. . . but I won't.

First time blogging about unschooling

Well, Ezra has been officially an unschooler for about exactly one month. He "should" have started kindergarten after Labor Day. We've been moving into our new place all that time, and we still have a lot to do, so it's been hard to keep up with thinking about him being an unschooler. But this fall he is in a class at the Art Academy, which he started today, which is an art program where they follow the apprenticeship model. He takes drawing this term and painting next term. So far he loves it! He is illustrating a children's book. Today he got to work on a drawing of a tornado and a rocket. All month he's been talking about rockets and space shuttles, of course, and watching launches on YouTube. He found a slideshow of the Columbia disaster and developed a love of the song "On Eagle's Wings".

He has been dabbling in piano though he quit Suzuki last spring after a year of it. He had been really enthusiastic and suddenly lost interest. But yesterday Kenny played background music while Ezra made up words about space shuttles to songs, and did countdowns to music. It was actually pretty cool!

This summer he discovered that what he wants to be when he grows up is called an aerospace engineer. He heard from someone that this requires knowledge of math, so in the past week he's been quizzing me in the car about addition and multiplication. He is also always wondering how many seconds are in a million years and things like that. It drives me nuts and I tell him to call Uncle Mike and ask him.

His space shuttle drawings have become more and more elaborate. He probably drew an average of 50 a day this summer on his Doodle Pro, but lately he's switched over to mostly markers and he's filled up 2 of *my* sketchbooks completely with them. His command of markers has improved amazingly. He even draws little astronauts and he will put the fin of one shuttle in front of something in the background. I think this is very advanced.

Yesterday he re-discovered watercolors and was doing space shuttles in watercolors.

He knows quite a bit about weather because of Kenny.

What other subjects are there? I just think he is already really well-rounded. The two things I want to make sure are available to him this year are any kinds of sports/recreation and also any kind of nature observation/study/play. I also may start brining him to the Zen center, or possibly to a church. We do celebrate the generic Christian and Jewish holidays, and every year I say I am going to celebrate Sukkot and then I don't. . .

Oh, yesterday we went to an orchard and he discovered he loved picking apples, playing tetherball, and holding baby chicks. He asked 3 times to return to hold the chicks and he had a favorite which he kept kissing. I was surprised because he hasn't shown much interest in animals in a long time. He said he is excited to have chickens someday. I told him it will be his job to collect the eggs.

Oh! He has written a few books but lately he wrote one called something like "Why Rockets and Space Shuttles Are Powerful". It is quite long and very scientific. He plans to illustrate it as soon as I write it or type it all out for him.

That's all I can manage to write for today!