is pretty weird. But this is a good year for it, since with Seth around it seems I can only accomplish about 1/3 of what I could do in a day without him. Not that I would trade him for any number of decks, finished basements, gardens, books, big callings, or any of my other pre-Seth projects; he IS my project this year - raising a baby to raise a boy to raise a man.
But this post is about Luke, the Lone Homeschooler. He is, as I have always said, a most stubborn child. I know one shouldn't label children, but one must also tell the truth. And now I have objective proof of that: see photos below. Wednesday we were at the Maryland Science Museum in Baltimore (Yay for Homeschool Days and $2 admissions!) and we went in the Kids'Room (for 0 - 8 year olds, and we're thrilled to have a 0 year old to get us in) with the Ariases and the Olmos. There lives the favorite toy of all my kids: a big wall of plastic pins -- I don't know what it's called, but I've seen little versions for sale -- you push all the pins smoothly to one side, and then press your hand or any object into it and it makes the pattern on the other side. Well, for the twelve-or-so years we've been going there, my kids have loved to play with this wall, one side of which is red and the other clear. So this time Luke got in a friendly contest with other kids, each trying to push all the pins to the other side. And he kept at it. And kept at it. And kids came and went but there was always someone on the red side pushing the pins back to the clear side. And I went out to feed the meter and came back and he was still at it. After an hour, there were two girls on one side and Luke was on the other and they decided they would go leave for a few seconds and fake him out (he heard them say this) and when he had it almost done, come and mess it up again. But he quickly finished on his side, and then I said,"Walk away Luke -- you won!" and he did so before they could get back. Whew! AN ENTIRE HOUR he was there doing this and he got all sweaty and his arms were tired but he wouldn't give up!
So I'm hoping two things: First, that people will believe me when I say that, no, I can't make him do something he doesn't want to do (swimming lessons, various co-ops and classes), and second, that he will recognize this trait in himself and turn it to great ends.
