In which I fail to indoctrinate my child properly *pats self on back, nurses shot foot*

The other morning, our new social worker paid us a visit.  No, CPS isn't after us, this was just another step in the protracted process of renewing our orphan visa.  She took a little tour of our house (hopefully she didn't notice the removed smoke detectors - mini-pear cannot sleep in their presence) and noted the the family-friendliness of the neighborhood before we sat down in the kitchen to review our paperwork.  Hopefully at that point she unconsciously noted the smell of the banana nut muffins we'd made (pretty much expressly for the purpose of our house smelling "homey", although we certainly liked eating them as well).

We chatted for a while.  She asked us lots of questions and hopefully I didn't talk too much.  I think her eyes widened a little when I started rapturously going on about how I'd still be lactating when we traveled to China!  And wouldn't it be great if our little adopted baby could experience all the benefits of extended breastfeeding?!?!

Then she asked if mini-pear could join us for a couple of minutes.  Of course, mini-pear had long bored of the excitement of a new visitor and was now very involved in something on the computer.  She reluctantly joined us in the kitchen, answered the first question and danced merrily off.

"Uh, mini-pear?  We still want to chat with you for a couple of minutes!"  She returned, even more reluctantly than before.  The social worker asked her if she was looking forward to the new baby, and also still looking forward to the adoption?  Did she know anything about China?  What does she do for fun? And then - "So how's homeschooling going with mom?"

"Good."
"Yeah?  What's your favorite subject?"
Mini-pear frowned, "Well, since we don't really do any of that stuff I don't really have a favorite.  I guess..."

Oh.  Crap.  I mean on one hand, this is great.  We've achieved one of our primary objectives - life and learning are seamlessly integrated for her.  On the other hand, this is a social worker sitting on the other side of the table, and from her perspective, I'm sure this looks like a big red flag.

I wrap my arm around mini-pear's waist, "I think if I had to guess your favorite subject, I'd say it was history, huh?  You really enjoyed learning all about Elizabeth I, didn't you?"
"Yeah.  Okay.  History."

Social worker's pen hesitated a moment before she neatly added "History" to the little list of interests she'd compiled.

Yikes.  Or as mini-pear might say, "Shikes!"

I suppose next time I need to prep her a bit.  Maybe explain that those happy hours in the backyard, creating new habitats for woodlice?  Those are Science credits.  So are all those times we spend kicking around the tide pools.  Karate?  That's something called P.E.  Hey, you're even picking up some Foreign Language skills at karate.  Writing to your best friend back in DC?  That could fall under English.  I suppose for a rising Third Grader like yourself, it's still called Language Arts.  Same for those short stories you write.  Those creative stories you tell?  Those don't really count, because there's no evidence of the work.  When you got out that fraction game we have, and used the pieces to play "cake shop"?  That was Math!  Especially when you tried to see which combinations of pieces made a whole cake!  We did a lot of Math on our trip, when we kept trying to figure out "how long 'til we get there".  Oh, and when we made chocolate chip cookies last week?  That was Math too.  When we were reading together the other morning, and we stopped for a minute to look up Jamaica (the location for the story) on a map, that was Geography.  Watching six Simpsons episodes in a row?  Your dad and I suspect you are working on your comedic timing, especially given your recent interest in memorizing complete comedy routines (I love your very dry delivery!).  But hey, maybe we're wrong.  Maybe you're just relaxing and there's certainly nothing wrong with that.  If you were in Film School, we could categorize watching The Simpsons, but you're only in Third Grade, so it's just vegging out.  It might even be very, very bad for you.  The American Girl book club?  History (U.S History).  Watching Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth I?  That's History too!  It probably doesn't count though, because British History isn't required for Third Graders in California.  Reading everything Beverly Cleary has ever written?  That's Reading with a capital "R".

I could prep her, but I think it might suck the joy out of it a bit.  All she knows is that she spends her days exploring what interests her.  No one's ever told her that it's something she has to do.  Nothing is required.  Nothing's out of bounds either.  It's all fun, because it all has meaning.  What else would she do?

Comments

[Kate]

I love it.

[Flo]

Your daughter cracks me up.

[Jennifer]

I can't tell you how many times people ask my kids about "school" or even "homeschool", and they just completely fail to give any sort of "acceptable" answer.

"Oh well we don't DO school, our mom lets us do whatever we want!"

[Mandy]

Yeah, Violet told me the other day that she wasn't learning anything. I started rambling off all the things that she learns about just by reading, watching, playing, doing, etc.... I know she's (they're both) learning, but that's a tough one when someone asks them what they're learning.