"I am beginning to suspect all elaborate and special systems of education. They seem to me to be built upon the supposition that every child is a kind of idiot who must be taught to think. Whereas, if the child is left to himself, he will think more and better, if less showily. Let him go and come freely, let him touch real things and combine his impressions for himself, instead of sitting indoors at a little round table, while a sweet-voiced teacher suggests that he build a stone wall with his wooden blocks, or make a rainbow out of strips of coloured paper, or plant straw trees in bead flower-pots. Such teaching fills the mind with artificial associations that must be got rid of, before the child can develop independent ideas out of actual experience." -- Anne Sullivan

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Thomas, We Love You

It all started one Sunday morning when Gracie was 2 and 1/2 yrs old. She was home sick from church, and while flipping through the channels we stopped on Thomas and Friends. Since we were usually at church at that time, Gracie had never watched it. Little did we know what had started...

Gracie fell in love with Thomas. While most girls were sporting pink and white princess sneakers, Gracie was proudly showing off her Thomas sneaks. Her toddler bed was decked out in Thomas sheets and we started collecting wooden trains at $12 a pop. Her 3rd birthday was a Thomas theme. Finally, we made the Pilgrimage to the Mecca of Thomas fans- Day Out with Thomas at the Strasburg Railroad.
               
Then Caleb arrived, and the obsession intensified. His first word was, "THOOOMAA!" shouted at a very loud volume. More trains arrived. More clothes. I found myself on Ebay looking for size 4 Thomas sneakers because he refused to wear anything else on his feet. Books, videos, more parties and trips.
                                                                            
                                                                                  

                                                                                        
                                                                                     
Now we're on kid number 3- and you guessed it- another Thomas fan. We're just happy to be getting a good return on our investment. We've probably sunk $400 in Thomas paraphernalia over the years, so the more use it gets, the better.
                                                                        
                                                                                     


I'm not just blogging about Thomas because I have no life now. My point is, I love Thomas too.Because Thomas helps me homeschool.

When we started this year, it became clear that Luke was having none of this school-time nonsense. As far as he's concerned, it's all about him, and he lets me know that loud and clear. There was a point about three weeks into this year when I was pretty sure I was gonna have to pony up five thousand bucks and send Gracie to school. The thing was, I didn't want my boys camped out in front of the TV so I could teach Gracie. I wanted them to happily play or do something constructive, not turn into mindless slugs because the TV rotted their brains. But after a month of screaming, temper tantrums, and head banging, it became clear I had a choice to make: send Gracie back to school or turn on Thomas.

I chose Thomas. And now, I'm ok with it. There are worse things as a parent then letting your kids watch TV for 2 hours every morning. Even as I type that, I feel embarrassed, like I failed. But the way I see it, they're not stuck in daycare all day. I spend lots of time doing things with them the rest of the day. So if watching a big blue train helps Gracie learn math and language, so be it. It really is my only option for now.

I'll leave you with my all-time favorite Thomas video. I hope you find it as inspiring as I do.

                                                                                                                                                              
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