Learning on the Road.

We slowly make our way out of the car to find Andrew standing on the front porch with another tall and skinny man. This one with steel gray eyes. It is as if he emerged from the black and white photo of Andrew’s grandfather. Neither man was moving. Both were just staring with a slight smile mixed in with a look of shock. The family resemblance was undeniable. Cousins who don’t remember their last meeting.

Kit was eagerly downloading his recent trip to Zambia. “I don’t think they need handouts. It has warped the culture. They need professionals to come in and form partnerships. Change their thinking. We shouldn’t be so lazy. We need to do our homework before we give.” All the girls are sitting on the sofa, listening. All but TJ. She is laying on my lap asleep. No wonder, she was up at 4:30, milking cows with an Allan. Allan wanted to be a dairy farmer since he was her age.

Celia looked over at the girls on the sofa. “Your girls are getting an amazing education in your travels”. I hear that a lot.

After spending some time with the family. Keith said, “your kids are so smart”.

We have some workbooks that we go through to make sure they can go back into a “normal school” someday. Make sure there are no gaps. The hour a day it takes to go through the workbooks. We changed our math to “Life of Fred” because my kids hated math. Now they love it. Workbooks are great, but think the best learning happens outside of the workbooks.

One day I was feeling like our kids weren’t getting “educated” enough. Not enough time hitting the books.  I decided to write down what they were learning that particular day. That only lasted one day. Too much to write down. Our lives are full and rich.

I think the unseen and immeasurable education is the most valuable.

This post is part of the FOTR blog carnival.