Oh, Do Tell, Thing Two!

How very interesting!  What's the story? Who was involved in the study of these topics? What have you learned about each of the topics you list? When did you learn these things? Where did you study these skills?  Why did you choose to learn these particular skills? How did you learn each new thing? Have you studied grammar or proofreading at all?

What have you learned about schedules? Have you prepared a schedule for next week? What about for the April to June term? How are you coming along with that schedule? How's your report coming for the end of this term? What do you think you want to tell the Department of Education about your progress?

How do you evaluate your progress? If you abandoned the goals for this term that were on the original schedule, did you replace them with another goal? Maybe you did, but you didn't articulate it yet. I think that would be a bit like planning a grand journey without choosing a destination. I'm pretty familiar with that journey myself.

As for the library, what have you learned from the books you have been reading? What have you been reading? We have seen that you have provided a link to the Redwall series. Been reading anything else? What is it about the books you have been reading that has engaged you?

Are there specific books you want to find at the library, or do you just want to go fishing there?

What have you learned about gardening? Do you have an interest in gardening? Is it your own?

Okay, okay, I'll stop with the questions. I got up on the wrong side of grumpy. I worry about you. I see that you want to take the reins, it's a natural thing. And I see that we are easier in each other's company lately but I feel that you are not being well served by your time at home, we let things slide. You keep reminding me that you got expelled from home school as if that gives you leave to just wander through the days, exploring amazing things, like what good tops thumbtacks are and whether you can manipulate their path across the kitchen table by blowing on them... all good clean fun,

But, what if you need more than a wander through life? We don't even walk anymore. For me, it seems as if what you have learned about schedules is how to avoid following them! We have never discussed your being expelled and tried to resolve the issues that got us there. Time to read Summerhill, or just check out their site.

You've had cabin fever and started talking about boarding school, so of course I started thinking about it too, about what you are missing out on by being here with an adult instead of in a gang of kids. About the potential that you have ways of learning that you need to know more about, so that you can develop strategies to achieve what you want, whenever you decide what that is.

The weather is taking a break from being cold windy and damp and I'm going outside to work on cutting down the huge rose hedge, the hedge I planted. So easy it was, just drove branches in the ground from the rosebush that was getting too large below the kitchen window.

The rosebush with the sweet little white blossoms in summer that fill the air with a lovely scent for a few days each summer. The rosebush with small hips the partridge and waxwings like to lunch on. The rosebush my dear Aunt Jean gave me, as a little slip in a  coke bottle, with the words "You can't kill this."

I gave it a good try, leaving it in the coke bottle, on the kitchen windowsill for the better of the summer, while I tried to work out where to plant it. Yeah, it took me a long time to figure out the code. Beware of plants you can't kill. Habits can be invasive too. What habits do I want to change in myself? I'll think about that while I work on the rosebush project.