Life-learning, unschooling... boat school.

Rosetta stone Spanish

I'm really, really glad someone else taught my kids how to read and write.
I think that might have been beyond both my skill and patience level.
They had some great teachers, good social experiences and over-all, liked public school.

That being said, and now that they have the basics under their belt, I'm so grateful to have this kind of time with them to see how they actually learn. Both of them are entirely different in how they receive and assimilate information but they are constantly absorbing, absorbing, absorbing.

On the boat there is no "private space" for grown-ups. Our conversations about everything from engines to taxes to self-reflections are pretty much privy to all ears. When we listen to the  SSB radio for weather forecasts and world news updates, the kids are right here. Yesterday, the local cruiser's net (operated by a HAM radio guy who broadcasts under the name "duckbreath") updated all of us down here on news from the "darkside"-cruiser lingo for "America".  When Duckbreath mentioned Israel and Iran threatening to gear up for some nasty posturing ( let's hope that's all it turns out to be) the kids wanted to know WHY.
How do you explain Israel, or for that matter Iran's political history to a nine-year old?
Well, it turns out you can. It also turns out they are interested in Middle Eastern politics.

And how about Philosophy?

Awhile back, when I had just returned from Tibet, Kai and I were talking about reincarnation.
Kai told me he doesn't believe in that. He believes in science.
"Do you think people have souls?" I asked him.
"I don't know" he stared into space, distracted.
"Well, how do you explain how we are all different inside? What makes you Kai and me mommy, if we don't have souls?".
Kai yawned. I thought I had lost him.
Then he put his head on the table and fiddled with some flowers that were sitting in a mayonnaise jar.
"It's like these flowers, mom. They're all the same but some of them are smooth and some of them have spots and some of them are dying already...You think it's because they have SOULS?"
He looked at me with a funny smile.
Then he got up. "I'm gonna go play now".

That's boat-schooling.