It is hard to believe that it has been 5 years since our first SMARTIES class. Five. Back then, we mummas hadn’t a clue… not really. All we knew was that we wanted a quality education for our children. We also knew that we wanted them to have a lot of wonder, a lot of curiosity and, most of all, a lot of fun. So we made a pledge to commit to consistency and plunged right in. It has been a wonderful ride and our group has grown – our pioneer group of then 6-year-olds are now the Senior SMARTIES and we have ushered in a new group of delightful Junior SMARTIES.
Our First Days
We kept things simple – our first class was about plants and we made it experiential. The kids germinated seeds, grew their own plants, recorded their observations, learnt about photosynthesis, explored how roots anchor plants and even did art with chlorophyll! We wondered if our lessons and activities were all too basic, but the little SMARTIES taught us something:
The flowers, it is true, are not new; but the children are; and it is the fault of their elders if every new flower they come upon is not to them a Picciola, a mystery of beauty to be watched from day to day with unspeakable awe and delight. (Charlotte Mason)
We learnt to see things through their eyes and celebrated every new nugget gleaned because as Ms Mason said it, “Every common miracle which the child sees with his own eyes makes of him for the moment another Newton.”
Pushing On…
As the children grew, we took to tackling more challenging topics like clocks, bridges, body systems, biomes, electricity and even mind/brain science! We’ve had our share of hiccups – things can and often do go wrong and our experiments have at times been complete and utter messes. Even so, they weren’t complete failures – they taught us about precision and proper technique.
We’ve had the pleasure of watching our kids grow together and we have stuck by each other even through the pandemic. It was heartwarming to see how when we had to conduct our classes online, the kids wanted to spend time together and chat afterwards on Zoom the way they used to play together after lessons.
Our science classes have taught us a great deal about so many things – about the importance of staying inquisitive, about the rewards in persevering and most of all, about the blessings of a beautiful tribe.
I am excited about the possibilities – our Junior families have injected many fresh ideas and fun and our Senior SMARTIES are entering middle school age.
I like to think that we have many miles to go. I like to think that us mummas can learn a great deal more while teaching our own.
