Teachers

A.E.'s latest game is being the "teacher." For some reason, it's raining, and we have to "go to school." School takes place in the dining room, where there is a table and a buffet. No chairs, no books, no paper, no pencils.

Today there were Auburn and Tennessee shakers, a pair of old sunglasses (just the frame-the lenses were popped out long ago), and a little toy school bus. A.E. taught me how to clean the floor with the Auburn shaker. However, I could not hold the shaker.

"This is for the teacher. Only the teacher can hold it. I clean the floors, Mother. Not you."

I'm thinking, "Oh, really? Well, that's nice!"

I go back to making lunch in the kitchen.

"Come to school, please, Mother! Come to school, please, Mother!"

I quickly am escorted back to the dining room.

"These are the teacher's glasses."

Okay.

This evening A.E. repeated the "game" with her Daddy. I suggested to her that she could be H.J.'s teacher, so the Phillips Phamily Daddy could sit down to dinner. Wow. That idea, A.E. as H.J.'s teacher, has opened a whole new can of worms. We'll see where this leads us.

I think A.E. is thriving on her "school" days. She looks forward to Tuesdays and Thursdays, but she is hard-pressed to really open up about what she does there or what she is learning. I have my guesses because the teachers sent home a list of concepts, but it's interesting that she, so far, can only answer yes and no questions about her day. I'm hoping she'll start "teaching" H.J., so I can see her perception of a teacher.

Coming from a teaching background, I think about learning and teaching maybe in a different way than most parents. I often just observe my children playing, rarely interrupting, lest there be danger or a squabble. I've thought (maybe too much) about the different experiences A.E. and H.J. will have with learning because of their birth order and proximity in age. This one thing I know has been the same for both of them: I love to let them play with a toy before I show them how it works or what it can do. Most of the time, they figure it out. Sometimes they understand the toy, but lack the dexterity or strength to operate it. Often there is frustration and then comes the learning.

Does God do this with us? Do we figure things out, eventually? Do we have the head knowledge to figure things out, but lack the spirit to live life "right?" Do we get frustrated, and then learn the lesson? Oh, I think so. How do we really learn?

• Reading.
• Writing about what we read.
• Discussing what we read and wrote.
• Applying the lesson to our lives.

So as my children are completely engrossed in learning, from the simple to the complex things of life and living, I am reminded how important it is for me to keep learning. And for me to keep teaching.