Maps

Evan and Chloe sat at the kitchen table yesterday and made maps for several hours, and we are amazed, as always, at the treasures within our children that choose to bloom at their appointed time.

It all started with Evan trying to tell me about a part of his Lego Star Wars game that was really challenging. He decided that it would be easier if he just showed me, which is exactly what I do for him when I draw maps of the park, or the streets we've walked on, or to show how many stoplights we go through on our way to the mall.  I loved that he was excited to try out this skill.

Drawing from memory the boards of a game he plays only once a week for about 90 minutes.

The more he drew the further he kept taking it, then he started labeling things.  Before he even realized how much work he just did, it was finished and he was really proud of what he had made.

He said, "I can't believe I made this!  And I don't even like to draw!  Or write!  And I made this!"  Suddenly inspiration struck and he went to grab another piece of scrap paper.

Evan never wants to draw or color anything.  He despises handwriting and has been known to shed several tears over a simple thank you note.  We have always said to him, that when you really need to learn a skill you will and it will even seem fun because it is now useful.  This was entirely true as he spent more and more continuous time at the table.  Even he was surprised at his sudden endurance for handwriting.  "Mom, I can't believe I'm still sitting here writing and it's fun!"

I know the photo quality here is awful but you get the idea.

You knew Miss Chloe wasn't too far behind on this idea, right?  She loves to draw and write, but she had never tried a map (although she has watched me make so many).  She plays a computer horse game called Spirit maybe once every couple weeks or so, but she had the map in her brain she put it on paper really accurately.

Evan's third map was his biggest one.  He spent almost an hour just on this one alone.

There is so much patience involved in unschooling and so many things the camera can't capture, but it is magical in every way and it works.  It's not that we don't teach our kids anything (we do!) but we prefer to expose them to a richly creative environment and constantly open doors for them to see what they will grab onto and run with.  I wonder what it will be next?