Unschooling is THE BOMB ...

Last night I had the pleasure of hearing beautiful words come out of both of my children's mouths ... both directed right at ME.  

If you read this post, you know about my tender moment with The Princess.  

Well, moments earlier, as I was tucking in The Hippie, I heard this statement (with the enthusiasm of a college cheerleader):

"See, I told you, Mom.  Unschooling is THE BOMB!"

Words to yank on Momma's unsure and worrying heart.  

Words to show me that it really is working.  We really are getting closer by the day.  They really are learning more these days than they ever did when I had it all "planned out just so".

Of course, this came after an hour long impromptu "science lesson". 

After dinner and teeth brushing, the girls were in our "learning room", doing their thing while Daddy and I were washing dishes (the girls washed breakfast and lunch dishes, so it seemed only fair).

The Princess was drawing.  The Hippie started playing with our wooden balance.  

She started trying to tell Daddy that it must be broken.  Even with nothing hanging on either end, it kept tilting to one direction.  

Daddy stopped doing the dishes and came into the room.  They started talking about weights and he showed her how if she put her arm out and placed a heavy bag in her hand, her hand would drop; it would be HEAVY.  Then, he placed the same exact heavy bag up around her bicep, and nothing happened.  Her arm didn't drop.  It wasn't nearly as heavy.

He discussed this concept with her for quite some time as she looked at him intently.  

Then, he made her figure out how to "fix" the balance.  After multiple tries (and quite a bit of "not getting it"), she eventually figured out where she had to place the metal things on each side to get it to even out.

Then, the fun really began.  

They (the Princess had joined in by now) started weighing various objects, moving things around to get them to balance out.  

Fun, fun and FUN!

The discussion moved to the kitchen.  We talked about weight, gravity, density, terminal velocity, hydrogen and helium, airplanes, forces, pendulums ... all things science!

The Hippie continued with "But, what I don't understand is ...".  

Question after question.

Answer after answer.

This whole "event" went on for an hour!  We finally had to just cut it off ... it was now an hour past bedtime! 

Anyway, as I was tucking the Hippie in, I mentioned how she had had a FULL SCHOOL day, complete with "all the subjects", even without planning any of it ... she had done art, cooking, math, reading, poetry, science and more.

To which she replied, "See, I told you, Mom.  Unschooling is THE BOMB!"

A beautiful thing, I tell ya!