That little picture below and the quote (poem?) are from last year. I've been so embroiled in grownup thoughts lately, so busy trying to see through time, that I'm like a distracted school administrator who has lost sight of the children.

We can't keep delaying our homeschool plans while I "get set up." We have been planning to move or moving or settling in for three years now. Lots of learning happens all the time around here. But the enrichment, the strewing, the extra mile - not so much these days. And now we're looking at yet another disruption. I was days away from ordering baby chicks when I found out we may move this summer. Now my priorities have shifted again.

Again I turn my thoughts to the walls. Are the windows clean enough? Should we power wash before we sell? Don't even get me started about landing at the new place. Where the hell are we going to sleep? How long before we could afford to add on? Can we afford this move at all? And most compelling, how long might the septic system hold? These questions feel important to me. I dwell on them.

But look down there in that child's eyes. She doesn't care. She and her brother need some babies to raise, some real world responsibilities, some field trips near and far. When she said that odd little thing (one of my favorite things) about the fish last summer she was thigh deep in brackish water, very still, just watching them swim. Really, she's been swimming softly all year. She's got that down. My children can self entertain for days, even without screen time of any kind.

Too well, I think. Unschooling requires attention and planning, but more attention than planning. More seeing that the water is still, than urging them to swim. Why is that? The children learn better when you see them. Wendy Banning, guru mother around here, says the children are happiest when you "do nothing." Kind of a "Sit in silence and the world will roll in at your feet" kind of thing. Zen-ish. But you still have to show up.

Of course, I'm the one fighting the current. Truth be told, the children have more to teach me.