Yesterday Bunny Boo and I were over at her friend's house. Her friend asked all these questions about how Bunny Boo knew all of these things. I don't even remember half of it with how fast they were jumping from topic to topic! Her friend seemed amazed at how she could be so smart. She wanted to know how Bunny Boo learned all these things.
Bunny Boo pointed to me, and then followed her friend's questioning look with, "My mom teaches me. She's my only teacher. I've never gone to school. That's why I'm so smart."
Of course, I had to remind them both that just because one person knows a lot doesn't mean their friend won't know just as much. They probably just know different things. For example, Bunny Boo's friend is pretty good at reading. Bunny Boo may know a lot about a whole bunch of things, but she's not so good at reading.
I also pointed out that I'm not Bunny Boo's other teacher. When she goes to "school" she goes to the homeschool co-op once a week. There she learns from other mothers and with other kids, kind of like school.
As I expected, this started out a new conversation. Bunny Boo's friend told her how she goes to school every day but Saturday and Sunday. She couldn't imagine only going to school one day in a week, or not at all. It's just something kids in school don't really think about. I'm sure some would find it cool, but other kids really like school and all the friends they have there. They couldn't imagine doing it all from home.
That's when things got interesting. I asked Bunny Boo when she stopped learning. She said she never did, and her friend was shocked. "Except when you're sick, right?" she responded. I told her Corde learns even when she's sick and I was told I was mean. Corde thought this was pretty funny and then explained how incredibly hard it is not to learn anything! She went on and on about how you can't ask questions, play games, read books, or even think because you might figure something out that you didn't know before. Even when you're sick you still learn stuff, even though you're just trying to get better. "It's impossible to stop learning!" she declared.
Right there her friend gave this look of disbelief. That's when I dropped the bomb on her. "You know what?" I asked. "We just proved our point. Just by talking to us for five minutes you learned a whole bunch about homeschooling and unschooling. See how hard it is not to learn?"
It was an interesting day. It really did hit home for Bunny Boo that it's true, she never stops learning, and no one way of learning is better than any other. Sure, her friend goes to school and learns a lot of things there, but she learns a lot of things too. They both know a lot of different things, which means if they put their heads together, they really know quite a lot about the world. Better yet, we've shared the joy with someone else, the knowledge that no matter what you do, you never stop learning.
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