Did you ever wonder why summer seemed to fly by when you were a kid? I think it was because we got to be absolutely free – to play with the neighborhood kids, to build tree forts (fun) and learn to sew (not fun), to ride bikes up and down the street, playing cops and robbers in the driveways of the vacant houses, and, of course, to wait for the ice cream truck to come along chiming the same happy tune. No responsibilities, it was all fun and we made many great memories. We weren’t overly scheduled for all kinds of camps and classes and other kinds of things that are an integral part of family plans these days. Instead, we were allowed to build and create and daydream, watching the clouds go by and searching for constellations in the evening sky.

One of my fondest summer memories was looking forward to the days that the regional bookmobile would drive up to the local park. We’d all be waiting in line with our books and our library cards clutched in our hands. Our library cards were old fashioned – they had the small numbered metal tags attached so that they could be used in a punch machine to check out all of our literary loot. ;) Books were our escape and a fun form of exploration.

With books, I discovered all kinds of worlds and places, fun things to make and people to admire. I read anything and everything about space, rockets and space travel. I grew up in the era of men walking on the moon, and still feel that thrill of adventure with every rocket that launches. I still dream of walking on the Moon one of these days. Like Elon Musk, I am an engineer by degree, and love to contemplate space travel for this century. I also agree with his plan for educating his five sons, but that will have to wait for another blog post.

What’s different now? Kids are scheduled, processed, tested, standardized, and far removed from the outdoors and time to daydream. When kids come to our farm, they don’t know what to do first – climb the trees, go to the treehouse, kayak the lake, run and catch a jar of fireflies, or lie down on the picnic table at night to watch for tumbling satellites and shooting stars in the middle of the Milky Way.

Homeschooling offers the luxury of time, slowing things down and letting them enjoy childhood. Kids learn best when the learning is hands on, from building a treehouse to studying clouds from the backyard picnic table. There can be time to daydream and wonder, time to try out their own ideas and designs. The local library opens doors to all kinds of learning adventures and opportunities. From the baseball park to the theater, from mock trial practices at the courthouse to shark dissection at the local Discovery center, the liberty of experiential learning grows along with the child.

Homeschooling provides the unique opportunity to help each child find their interests, and discover their God-given gifts, which is so critical to living a life of purpose. We create interactive unit studies to help them learn and explore the universe, so that you can teach your child with the best tools available at this remarkable time in history.

Don’t overlook the wonder of learning by doing, exploring, and daydreaming. Learning by wonder works, and I can’t wait to see where they go!