Flowers and more questions

One of the great things about homeschooling (and yes, it's still pretty great) is the way questions spring up in the course of an normal day, questions that lead to investigation and new knowledge (that often leads to more questions). I'm starting to realize that you don't have to try really hard to teach. You just need to be willing to indulge their curiousity.

For example, here's a question that L had that could open up a very interesting avenue of learning: "Mommy, why is Tompkins Square Park named Tompkins?" My (lame) answer: "It was named after Mr. Tomkins." Her sensible response: "So what did he do to get a park named after him?" Me: embarrassed silence. Then the usual "Let's look it up when we get home."

So while L's in afterschool, here's what I've discovered. According to Wikipedia, the park was named after Daniel D. Tompkins, vice president under President James Monroe and the Governor of New York from 1807 until 1817. As governor, he provided money for the War of 1812 out of his own pocket after the State Legislature refused to fund it. He became an alcoholic and occasionally presided over the U.S. Senate while drunk. Tompkins is buried in St. Mark's Churchyard.

The way we could go forward with this, if she's still interested, is to look into the history of the park, go visit Tompkin's grave (since we live next door), look for an old map of the park and see how it's changed since it was made an official park in the late 1870's. If she's interested. Since it's totally possible that she'll have forgotten that she even asked the question by the end of the day.

Her other question, which I'm not sure I'll have as easy a time answering, was the meaning of the flower garlands we saw wrapped around the big tree in the middle of the park. There were chains of roses, daisies and lilies, all wilted and falling to pieces, and flower petals strewn around the roots. Tracks of the local Hari Krishnas? A pagan winter ritual? Some bored teenagers? Any theory would be most welcome.

In terms of real schooling, it was a good day. I had to go to an Earth School tour (we still intend to enroll her into 1st grade somewhere) and so we didn't start working till late. We went to Veselka, had a leisurely lunch and then walked across the street to Ottendorfer Library at noon, when the doors open. L had a webkinz doll with her, which I found to be a really useful teaching tool -- I'd ask L to tell Neigh-neigh how to do something or would ask her to model some behavior I wanted (like whispering in a library). Normally she'd do the opposite of whatever it is I wanted, but being Neigh-neigh's role model gave her a sense of responsibility. Another thing we did was she & the doll (voiced by L) would take turns answering & doing work. It just made everything more fun while still being focused on work.

We pretty much did everything I wanted to do today:

• did 4 pages of our new math workbook (I really like this math curriculum);
• practised penmanship (E's, F's & D's; we're using Handwriting Without Tears, which L really enjoys);
• did some free writing -- L wrote a few sentences about what we did the past weekend and illustrated it.
  
• we recited our poem of the week. She's memorizing one poem a week, nothing too elaborate. Things in the Mother Goose vein. Last week it was Birdy With the Yellow Bill (Birdy with the yellow bill/hopped upon my window sill/cocked his shining eye and said,/"Aren't you 'shamed, you sleepy head?") This week it's One, Two, Buckle My Shoe. She really likes doing this and will recite the poems at every opportunity.

We need to do some reading tonight before bed, and that's it! We worked till about 1:30, so an hour and a half, with a break in the middle. Then we did errands, came home and watched a DVD and I dropped her off at afterschool to play with friends. Another good day.

Next mission: Make Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement understandable to a 5-year-old.