{on pretending}

 There is no better time spent than time pretending.  Lost in the world of story where plots churn & characters evolve just because you dream.  Stories grow twisted thick like peering out the end of a glass Coca-cola bottle and then BOOM.  A new turn of events unfold.  And, all of the sudden, the  Oregon Trail of what happens next is talked out in midst of scenes filmed for no audience other than the camera lens of childhood.

I am often asked by new acquaintances, family members & old friends too, why we chose to homeschool and how long do you really intend to keep doing it?  I imagine it's the itching curiosity that alerts them to inquire. The intricacies of the homeschooling family has a somewhat percolating peculiarity to the mainstream of public and private schooling options. It's stretchy and a little too feely-feely for some.  It's closed-minded and a shade over-protective to others looking in, I would think.

My answer to homeschool lies so poetically within these images captured. I am compelled and every bit smitten with the art of pretend. Children crave it.  They are natural story tellers.  It's as if intonation and the easy lure of simile lie somewhere settled into their growing genetic content.  It's there, and so oftentimes, we stifle it for task mastery and checkmarks crossed off a yearly scope & sequence.  Our role as parents is to teach all so many things.  We owe it to ourselves to make the most of what's naturally been gifted to each young life when they're provided with little and allowed to wonder what it could all very well be.  Creating our passions and finding the voice to share them is one of the impacting reasons why we homeschool.  It's that urgency to create that brings out the best learners in us all.   How long will we stay on this path of  learning from home?  I do not know.  But, {on pretending}, I will always vote a peaceful & resounding yes.

"It's better to create than learn.  Creating is the essence of life."

                                                                                          Julius Caesar

 .mac :)