It is not half so important to know as to feel. -- Rachel Carson
The children and I disected tulips recently to get a better look at the parts of the flower. It was fun to share that flowers have both male and female parts. And that before there are seeds, there are eggs that need to be fertlized by pollen. It was a simple lesson. We focused on the three most obvious parts of the flower: petal, pistol, and stamens.
Life is amazing. The children drink in this information with such wonder and respect for the natural world. I love the idea that these experiences of young childhood are imprinted into their being. That these moments of understanding somehow, effortlessly and seamlessly, become who they are. At least, I hope this is the case.
I hope that by guiding Beatrix, listening to her, and allowing her time to wonder and discover within her world, she'll somehow be more "one with it". As a young child of the 80's growing up in a single parent household, I can't say that my inherent wonder, my awe of the world was necessarily nourished or encouraged. And I've struggled, I think, with that to find words to describe my what my heart and my soul know to be true, but which my experiences do not necessarily match up to or have the capacity to articulate. It's hard to explain (of course), but I sometimes walk around with the constant feeling that what I want to express is at the tip of my tongue. So close, yet so far.
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Well, quite honestly, I meant to post this photo of a sunflower and say, "Wow, it's mind boggling that a sunflower is actually a cluster of hundreds of tiny flowers? Look at all those pistols and stamens! I had a really fun time disecting flowers with the children at school this week!"
I guess I had a little more to say than I realized.
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