Break

Laissez-faire term break, too loose? Not always. Our preoccupation with homework has deprived out children of what should have been some of the most nurturing experiences of childhood.

It's my daughter's school term break this week. When I say break, I mean it. A break without homework. Now that autumn is here, we chose to go outdoors. It's not hard to understand why the natural world is a child's favorite classroom. Can you imagine what we did at the last stop of our hike today? My daughter spent nearly an hour watching leaves.

With countless butterflies around, the leaf-eating caterpillars must have left behind lots of "footprints" for us to explore. Finding holes in the foliage gives rise to all sorts of patterns as long as we add a bit of imagination, much in the way that we name the constellation by linking up stars. My daughter studied those leaves the way astronomers viewed the richness of the sky - you can imagine a dolphin leaping out at you if you gaze at them for long enough.