I once went to the teacher's academy (I don't know how it's named in English, I mean the school to become an primary school teacher). I have been a teacher for about 10 years. And now I am teaching my own bunch of kids.. or actually I live between them. Enjoy them. What a beautiful creatures. What a unique characters and interests they have.
Now that we are all at home together most of the time, we are trying to figure out which way we all thrive best. That's quite a challenge at times and it involves trial and error, like everything in life... but how wonderful when you find yourself over a bump again and things just seem to flow...
Last week we bought a number of things via marktplaats.nl (the Dutch Ebay). Long live Marktplaats! I found stuff for the boys to work with in the near future. Reading books, audio books, a clocktime learning game, a DIY book for kids... and a chemistry box for Manuel. And that last thing turned out to be a real hit! There is a booklet with it and it really is chemistry as I got it in high school, but then the first small steps, explained at primary school level.
He immediately started working and now gets to know and use all the materials... measuring cylinders, pipettes, test tubes... he learns about the forms and characteristics of matter... and I saw that the periodic table of the elements and the construction of molecules also will come to pass. Awesome!
His younger brother also finds it extremely interesting and prefers to watch all the time, but he is also deepening his own interest: cooking! This is really an interest that has been around for a long time and is popping up over and over again. When we are having dinner, he can just come out with 'mommy, I think this will be nice with cinnamon in it'. And usually his ideas turn out to be really good.
I found it a bit difficult to give substance to this interest, because I don't easily work together in the kitchen. While I can have a lot of patience with other things, cooking is not (yet) one of them. But this week it turned out... that Xavian can now read well enough to do most of it himself. And reading is what we practice with him on a regular basis... so it was super nice to see that this has it's effect.. plus that this way he also practices understanding what he actually reads. He read the recipe on the laptop... grabbed all the supplies himself and got to work, with me in the background to assist him where necessary. Really nice to see how this went!
His apple cake was very tasty and plans for another cooking adventure are already being made...
On this moments I feel like a fish in the water.. being a mentor/spectator of growing and developing creatures. Every growth leap feels like a miracle that happens before my eyes. Awesome!
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