begin the begin

The countdown has started --

I gave notice at work, which is both scary and awesome. My last day is the 28th of August. The first day of school for me is the 31st; the boys, of course, are learning when the opportunity arises, day or night, weekday or weekend. That is the core of our philosophy, that kids learn best when they are excited and involved in their own learning, which means that my wife and I (mostly me, now that homeschooling is my responsibility) need to be ready to follow up whenever something piques the boys' interests.

Adon and I had one of those moments over the weekend -- I was sick and not being very involved, and Erika and Zander took off to go check out a capoeira studio and get some shopping done. I was watching TV, and Adon was in his room. When I finally managed to get up to check on him, he had his ginormous astronomy book ("Voyage Across the Cosmos" by Giles Sparrow) out and was just reading. Okay, so, I didn't bother him and went back to zoning out in front of the TV. When he finally popped out of his room, he had been reading this fairly hardcore (though still designed for kids) astronomy book for over two hours. The first thing he said to me was: "Did you know the three ways the universe will probably end?" It led to a lovely discussion about dark matter, the origins of the universe (can't talk about the Big Crunch without talking about the Big Bang), and what we as humans really know and don't know about physics.

Later, Adon asked Zander the same question, and I got to loop the little one in to the speed of light, what a light-year is, and why certain numbers are referred to in scientific notation.

I'm really looking forward to shifting my focus to learning, both my own and the boys'. I still need a little bit of a plan, because even though we like to have learning occur fairly organically, we also believe in presenting them with subjects and activities that stimulate their interest and provide insight into things they might otherwise miss.

"And this here's the TV. Two hours a day, either educational or football, so you don't ruin your appreciation of the finer things."
-H.I. McDunnough