Today was #SnakeDay!
Cesar and I went to go check up on the strawberries and fruit trees inside our covered fruit tree mini forest in the nursery (spearheaded by my hubby with @earth_haven_project) where we found a lady bug (the day before we discussed how different bugs play different roles in supporting plant life while being in our Eco tunnel). As we went out the nursery area something caught my eye by the crassula – a snake skin! Gian carefully untangled it to get a scope of its size. This is the longest snake skin we’ve found on our farm. This discovery came with a plethora of questions from Cesar which got promptly answered with a book and YouTube videos. Once satisfied he took the snakeskin to others to tell them all about snakes. Fast forward 15 minutes – we’re by the pool with the dogs going for a swim, when LJ spotted a snake. The Herald snake was dead (non poisonous) and seemed to have lost a battle with a rat. It’s impressive to see how such in-the-moment learning experiences integrate and stick immediately! With the advent of technology and access to digital information, home education is a powerful vessel to answer questions as fast as they come up and widen our understanding of ourselves and the world.
#snake #snakeday #southafrica #kwazulunatal #midlands #unschooling #wildschooling #nature #animals #homeeducation #homeschooling #selfdirectedlearning #SDL #skin #shedding #spontaneous #inthemoment #parenting #livingislearning #wildlings
![Cesar gave Syntia his train tracks about a year ago, and before they were hers, she would play with them together with Cesar. She's had a ton of time to learn the different pieces, how to put them together and build a track, but for some reason, she DID NOT want to build a track by herself and most of all preferred to just watch as someone else built the track for her.
Lj and I knew she was perfectly capable of building a track for herself and we tried to support her to start small and show herself that she can do it. Or that we'd be here if she gets stuck, but she can at least try on her own. Any such attempts, however, were met with an absolute and firm refusal. So, we did it with her, or for her.
We started wondering, is this little girl really just taking advantage of us at this point? Are we entertaining this too much? Should we push harder? We knew she could do it, she knew she could do it, but for some reason she just didn't want to do it, at least, not yet.
And then one day, out of the blue, she takes out her blocks and starts building a track... by herself. Lj quietly waived me over, pointing at her, then signing 'shhht', lol - didn't want to disturb the moment. The track you see in the pic is the first one she built by herself. It wasn't a "beginner's" track like a simple circle or a straight line, it was a more intricate design laid out exactly and precisely how she wanted it to be, including all the elements she wanted to have as a part of it. Kabam, out of the blue.
There are other things where Syntia 'took her sweet time', like learning how to walk and potty training, where it was clear at some point that she was able to do it, but for some reason, pulled back or didn't want to do it all by herself just yet. It's so easy as parents to freak out over that, to think that children should develop skills in a particular way, like 'starting small' or doing something by yourself as soon as you're able to. But not all kids are the same in this. [Continued in comments..]](https://scontent-dfw5-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/135216034_868657797266702_107582540258970761_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=c4dd86&_nc_ohc=Z1V8WJUUqosAX-4LmjA&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AfCJjAXVxtNiIi6gvUUl0MZd6cdkXtaHW6r2JeZgYPVE-A&oe=64DB2E92)
