This event transpired in 2011 and my record of it is below.
I'm sure it's happened to most homeschoolers. A well-meaning relative begins to quiz your kids to make sure they aren't falling behind their peers in school, or simply falling behind the expectations of the one doing the quiz.
My 7 year old was getting the quiz from my father on our last trip to Salt Lake. He was being asked about his schooling activities. Of course, my dad was using all the words we never utter: arithmetic, social studies, history, literature. So my boy said we did none of that. Surprised, I'm sure, dad questioned, "So what do you DO all day!?" My son thought for a moment, then answered, "Mostly imagination and play."
Had I been there for any of this exchange (my dad told me about it later) I would have been doing damage control all the way along, explaining to my son arithmetic is math, telling dad we cover social studies and history with Culture Club, etc. But then surely I would have missed my boy's simple report on how he spends his time: imagination and play.
I LOVE that this is what he feels he does all day! I love coming to find him to start some part of our learning for the day and discovering him playing with his sister, or mumbling dialogue, deep in the realms his mind has created. I sneak off and tell myself it can wait, and it does, and we always find time to work things in later.
This isn't why we began homeschooling. I really should begin making a numbered list of all that we love about homeschooling, however. Number 274: giving my children the gift of time in their childhood for their imagination and play.
(adding that with this blog, finally the numbered list has begun)
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