I am an educator who has been schooled.
He lies next to me
Adorable and yummy
Curious and engaged
Full of ideas
With a very deliberate charge
He is a thinker
A planner
A leader
A snuggler
And I can’t help but wonder why we take learning
Out of the home and fully entrust it to institutions
Now, I’m a teacher
And this is not a post to disparage organized learning
There is power in collaboration
Power in discovery
Power in being around peers
Power in play, imagination
But today, I feel the power of togetherness.
They call it parallel-play in psychology
Engaged in different activities
Enjoying each other’s company, space
Our space was the bed
Uniformed in pajamas
He was watching original Mickey Mouse footage
I was attempting to organize my digital files.
We watched together
I paused the TV to point out that a scene from the movie was similar to one we had read earlier—a scarecrow covered in crows.
I’ll teach him about irony later, when he is three and a half…
Our conversation was no different than the ones I’d have with my Kindergarten students, meandering through ideas, working our musings out, imaginary, playful, curious, serious.
This space was sacred, indeed!
And the comfort was built in
There was no exercise in “establishing rapport”
I did establish more cuddles!
Childhood happens once.
It confuses me when parents rush to mottle it with “rigor”
I think they mean vigor
Rigor is short for rigor mortis—which is how I feel when people ask me for it.
Love and learning happen in soft moments, blurred moments, peaceful moments.
At the very least memory happens during rest.
And what will he remember from this day?
I know it will be love.
Easiness
The coolness & comfort of being together
Taking moments to observe
Laugh
These are the moments when plants grow
Chicks hatch
Rivers flow
This is life
And the only thing about life that mirrors school
is
school.
I was happy to be here with him.
Learning.
Loving.
Home.
Schooled.
He’s up from nap.
Here he comes now!
Gotta go!
educakes 
this was beautiful! thank you for posting.
Thank you for your comment and for stopping by!
I like the idea of vigor vs. rigor. What a wise thing to point out.
Lovely poem!
Thank you for stopping by!
Such sweet memories being made! Thanks for the post!
Thank you for dropping by!
I love my job, but sometimes I think homeschooling would be a highly valuable experience. I’m not sure I’d want to do it with my own kids, but it’s a very appealing idea to “homeschool” someone else’s child. 🙂 Although, I would REALLY miss my classroom.
“I’m not sure I’d want to do it with my own kids, but it’s a very appealing idea to “homeschool” someone else’s child. :)” This is funny… Could you imagine your own kids walking to the bus stop when another kid just walks in your front door? Oh, I truly enjoy my work and where I work is a thriving community of learners/educators. But those sweet moments are unbeatable, and important. They add humanity and perspective–that the children in our classrooms are dearly loved and snuggled when they are away from us.
A beautiful portrait of your time together.
Thank you, and now for another day to explore! Enjoy yours!