Working Wonders

Here is one of the best quotes I've ever read on motherhood from a Charlotte Mason book that I'm reading called The Outdoor Life of Children:

"...mothers work wonders once they are convinced that wonders are demanded of them."

Mason said this in response to anyone suggesting it is too much work to take children outdoors for more than an hour.  She believed in the power of nature and being outside as much as possible with the children.  She didn't like the idea of a mother just sending the children out on their own.  Children come alive outside.  Their powers of observation are completely put to work, creating pictures in their minds that will last them a lifetime and give them wonderful memories to reflect on in their old age even.  And, we moms, can be the critical factor in the working of these "wonders" if we realize these "wonders" are demanded of us.  We have to make it happen.

If I hadn't already moved to the country, after reading her book I would have packed my bags and left right away.  Mason put it so beautifully awhen referring to being outside in the country and the fresh air "...here is the mother's opportunity to train the seeing-eye, the hearing ear, and to drop seeds of truth into the open soul of the child, which shall germinate, blossom, and bear fruit, without further help or knowledge of hers."  Mason encouraged the mother to talk less when outside with the children (actually she used the words "perpetual cackle", which is really more appropriate as that is what I'm sure I sound like sometimes....) and instead give the child space to wonder and grow.

So I tried this on Thursday last week.  What a beautiful day it was....no one wanted to stay indoors and I figured we'd been indoors for about 6 months, maybe it would be ok to do school outside.  I had them take their books and we did manage to do some book work at a picnic table, all the while feeling the warm breeze and the sun on our backs.  It was so great.  But then we had to stop and just observe.  So much had happened on the farm in the last few weeks.  Spring had sprung and I wanted them to see it - up close.  So we got the picnic table at little closer to our huge chestnut tree and we pulled a branch down and observed where only a few days earlier there had been a tiny bud, then a bigger bud, then a bigger bud.  Finally it had literally burst open to display the most amazing bundle of leaves and a huge flower!  I asked the kids, "How did all that fit in there?!"  We were all amazed. We walked around and I made sure they knew the names of all the trees on our front yard.

Then, I grabbed one of our science books on trees, leaves and the life cycle of the cherry tree.  It had a great picture of a blossom, with a bee on it and what the inside of the blossom looked like.  I was going to have the kids read the book with me, still outside, but then....I stopped.  We have a cherry tree on our property!  With blossoms!  And bees!  We ran to it.  We pulled down a branch again, trying not to get stung...as bees were everywhere, doing exactly what the bee was doing in the picture.  The kids were so excited as they saw the pollinating process live!  We just watched in wonder and awe as we could actually see the pollen on the bee's legs going from one blossom to the next.  We smelled the blossoms.  We touched them.  We stayed there for a long time.  Talk about using all 5 senses!  Then we talked and talked about the whole process, trying to identify all the different parts of the blossoms, using words I never even knew such as "pistil" and "stamen".  Last but not least, we grabbed our paints and we sat and painted.  I sat there with them and tried to paint a blossom, too.  I have no artistic talent at all, but that was not the point.  I was there and because I was there, they painted and stayed for what seemed like hours.  They even started to paint other flowers like dandelions.  I had never seen dandelions as a beautiful spring flower.  Now I do, because of them and their wonder, their observations.

The paints stayed out all weekend.  They painted and painted all sorts of things I hadn't even told them to paint.  My one child who was determined to not paint eventually caved when he saw what I was painting.  I'm sure in his mind he was thinking, "I can do better than that."  And he did!

I did "perpetually cackle" a little, as I was determined to make them learn something, but eventually I stopped when my kids all said, "Mom, we know...."  Once a child is outside with the mother, Mason says, "...it is not her business to entertain the little people...Who thinks to amuse children with tale or talk at a circus or pantomime?  And here, is there not infinitely more displayed for their delectation?" It's true! I just needed to shut up.

The world really is their classroom.  There is so much to see outside, especially on a farm. We just had two new calves born, new kittens and we're waiting on some chicks.  We never planned on that, but this mother hen is determined to brood and sit on our eggs.  Just another amazing thing to observe.  I need not say anything.

I've noticed when I'm outside, then they run to me to tell me the things they've observed, but when I send them out and stay indoors (which is sometimes where I'd rather be to be honest, getting things done, etc....) then they stop.  I'm too far away, I won't care anyway, they figure.  Once I started going out with them, they began to ask that I would be outside, "just watching them" they'd say.  I don't know that they know why they like it when I'm outside, but they do.  Reading this book has helped me understand again why it is so important that I go with them.  They may not understand why it is so good for me to be there, but I understand, wonders are being demanded of me and I must be a part of working those wonders.