Teacher Notes

There was a moment this week that I will always treasure.  You see, people sometimes make comments on how they couldn’t homeschool because they’d be afraid that they’d miss something or because it’s too much work…etc.  They assume I’m confident.  I’m not, yet we still keep going on.  I do worry we miss things.  That’s real and valid because there is a lot of knowledge out there, and it is impossible to know it all.

That’s actually a bit reassuring, because that means that the public schools are missing stuff too, as are the private schools.  We all don’t learn something.  Educators and experts still argue over what the “right” things to know are.

I try really hard not to focus on what we aren’t learning, and try really hard to focus on what we are learning.  Otherwise I drown in worry.  I try to focus on which direction we should go, and not worry about the roads we are not traveling.

I’m really a big believer of answering the kids’ questions that they come up with, and providing lots of reasons why, and both sides of stories.  Not all the time, of course, but I try to be especially patient to answer what comes into their brain during “school time.”  Otherwise the answer to their questions is usually “stop procrastinating and clean your room.”

Like I said, there was a moment this week where I felt like the dots were connected inside Silje’s brain, and I just knew she was getting it.  Many, many times I wonder if they will remember any of this long term.  I know I don’t remember half the things I learned in grade school.  I wonder what they will remember, and what will glaze over in their memory.

So the moment was during snack time in the afternoon.  David was talking about the mini-Lego set that he saw at Target for $4.  He has saved up $2 so far.  I told him he’ll need a little bit of change for tax.  He asked what tax was.  So I taught about how the government takes our money and puts it to certain uses.  Things like paying for police officers, building roads, etc.

“They just take it?” he asked.
“Well, if there is a sales tax, you pay every time you buy something.  But they cannot collect a sales tax without a vote from the people.  You see, in our country, when the government want to start a tax like a sales tax, they have to get permission.  For instance, they can say ‘We want to defend our country from these attackers.  We want to collect tax money from everyone so that we can do that.’  Then there is a vote, and the people give them permission.  If the reason is for something like a party, the people can say ‘no.’ and then there is no tax.”
(Disclaimer: I do understand that our legislature vote on this most of the time, but we vote for our legislature, so indirectly, we’re voting.  We’ll get into the difference between a republic and a democracy later…)

That’s when Silje chimed in: “That’s like the Magna Carta that King John had to sign.  Does that mean that our government is based off of that document?”

I blinked.  I asked her to say that again.  Yes, I heard right.  We studied the history of Richard the Lionheart, and his brother John, and the legends of Robin Hood.  That unit ended almost 2 weeks ago.  The Magna Carta was just part of one reading done on one day of that unit…awhile ago, and we never talked about that document in relation to our own country, or how it effects modern government.  It was a quick 2nd grade overview.

“Yes, sweetie.  Our constitution is largely based off of the Magna Carta.”

“I thought so.”

It just gave me warm fuzzies and awe.  We’re doing okay.  We’re learning.  I need to settle down more often.