The other day my son and I were walking from the car to a store during the afternoon when he looked up at the moon and exclaimed that the moon was a waning gibbous moon. Huh? What? Okay, I’ll admit I don’t know much about astronomy. My son loves it and teaches himself more and more about the universe.
So last night when there was an impending eclipse I was surprised to look outside and see clear skies. I waited until the moon started to turn red before waking my son and we spent a little time in the freezing temperatures watching the moon.
I woke this morning to hear my son excitedly tell his younger brother all about the eclipse. I love hearing my son share his excitement. We are not doing an astronomy class this year. We are focusing on life science during our school hours. But unschooling is part of our life too. Unschooling is child-led learning. While I didn’t count our late night observations as “school-time” I considered them part of a lifestyle of learning. So for right now I’m keeping astronomy in my son’s capable hands. He has the passion, excitement, and joy for the topic that keeps him learning more and more without my involvement.
