Home again, home again, jiggity, jig

Canoeing, archery, kitchen duty, and dissecting a squid. Those were the highlights of our conversation about the camp experience as we drove home.

I admit that I am living vicariously through Sean on this one, just as I did when David and Jewel went off to church camp when they were little. I never went to "camp" as a child. My family camped, but that isn't the same. I never had the experience that I've seen in some of those goofy kid movies, where they are at camp and they have a leader with a bull horn calling out the name of the group that is always something like "OKAY, I WANT ALL OF THE GUPPIES IN FRONT OF THE FLAG POLE."

Sean was in a cabin group called The Huckleberries, and his learning group was called The Salmon. I haven't heard yet if there were bull horns, or competitive activities. It sounds like it was more about science and fun experiences. There were six boys in his cabin and two cabin leaders.

He loved the dissecting activity, although he said it was kind of gross. He told me about cutting the lens out of the eye, and how the leader explained how light effects the eyes. "I already know this, because of the work I did on my science project," he said. (His experiment was "Does eye color effect pupil dilation?)

When he was very young, probably 2 or 3 years old, we had a book about shells. Each page showed a layer of a shell and the creature inside. He loved that book. I've continued to buy those type of books for him, and so has his dad. He has a frog book, and a human body book that feature bones, muscles, etc. in layers.

I picked him up at the camp today, since it is only 3 minutes down the road from our house. The others were getting onto buses to head back into the city. As we were making our way to the car one of the cabin leaders was walking by and said goodbye to Sean, and that it was fun. Sean offered his hand in a handshake, and thanked him for being cabin leader for them.

Those are the moments that make me so proud, and so glad that he has had a Montessori grace and courtesy curriculum since he was four years old.

I'm always encouraging him to study hard and learn, but out there in the world, good manners and knowing how to get along in a group are just as important as reading and math skills.