Homeschoolers need a vacation too

Last week the public schools in NYC had off for their spring break, and while I could have easily ignored it and gone about our usual homeschooling business, I decided we all needed a break. Besides, so many of the city's esteemed institutions have all sorts of special events for the week, it would be a shame not to take advantage of at least some of them.

Monday we hit the NY Hall of Science and got to see a great science of bubbles show. Tuesday we spent the day at the Met doing an art scavenger hunt. The last few times we've been to art museums, Rocket Boy simply did not have a good time and now like to refer to the Museum of Modern Art as "the museum I hate". This time he had a blast. On Wednesday we sent him to an all day camp at a local kids gym where they specialize in gymnastics (as in state ranked team) and rock climbing. He came back tired. Not just a little tired, but tired like when we were putting on his shoes and coat he asked if he could lay down on the bench. I was speechless. There are a number of good reasons his internet nickname is Rocket Boy. Aside from the fact that since the age of 2 he has steadfastly held on to life's goal to be a rocket scientist, he is a bundle of unstoppable energy, zooming everywhere and not stopping. Needless to say I was pleased and he's is signed up for rock climbing class there every Monday.

On Thursday, a beautiful, beautiful day, after I spent the morning volunteering at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden we went up to the NY Botanical Garden in the Bronx. I love them both, but the NYBG has better drop-in events for kids. The BBG has great kids' programming, but they are mostly classes that have to be signed-up or well in advance. Rocket Boy spent a good chunk of our day in the family garden, digging and planting. Friday was another garden day - this time a homeschooler meet-up at a tiny volunteer-run botanic garden in Bay Ridge. He loved the tour, did not want to do the drawing or poetry exercise, and had a great time playing games with all the other kids.

The whole week was light on curriculum and the usual lessons, and big on experience and fun, for him at least. I learned a big lesson that I should lighten up a bit. He will learn and experience and is full of curiosity that just gets dampened when we try to pound it into school-sized shapes. We've opted to step out of the system, there's no reason I need to bring the system home with me. I'll still do lessons and have him practice some basic skills, but they need to be in service of his self-motivated curiosity.

My next big job as his parent and teacher is to perfect the art of pushing. It has to be just enough to get him past his limits, but not so much that it causes him to shut down. It's a very fine line. That said, I'll take him up to the Met again tomorrow and try to push our luck with his distaste for art museums. We never did finish last week's scavenger hunt. We still need to find a samurai, a hippo, George Washington, and a dragon. That shouldn't be too hard as long as we can navigate past the closed bits and actually find the American Wing this time.