What did you learn today?

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From the beginning days of our homeschooling journey, my husband has had a habit of asking our children a simple question. “What did you learn today?”

And every day, I wait eagerly for all of those interesting tidbits that I have so carefully poured into their heads to come tumbling out.

The verse we labored, again and again, to get just right.

The fact that the earth is divided into hemispheres.

The silly antics of Mr. Popper’s Penguins, or the narrow escape of Heather and Picket.

The mathematical formula that explains why a penny dropped from the top of the Empire State Building really won’t kill an unsuspecting passerby.

Maddeningly, nearly every night, I grimace as my children either recount the episode of Liberty’s Kids that they watched to supplement their lesson, or casually say, “Oh, nothing,” as if the day passed with absolutely no intellectual stimulus besides deciding which pair of socks was best suited to the weather.

Thankfully, my husband is an intuitive man — and a former journalist who knows how to pry answers out of even the most reticent interviewees. But still … it sure would be nice for them to volunteer some of that golden knowledge I am so eagerly bestowing on them.

And then there are days where you just know beyond knowing that that dinner table conversation is going to explode.

Like when you take advantage of the fact that you live on the proper coast to truly immerse yourself in Revolutionary War Day via living history and reenactment.

Days where you stand inside the cabin of a slave family and wonder how they managed to maintain hope at all.

Days when you count 8 hens (and a rooster!) and decide that that’s probably not enough to provide eggs for your family on a daily basis.

Days when you survey a barnyard with sheep nearly ready for shearing, a donkey, some hogs, three turkeys … and discuss how each animal has a job — even if it’s to land on someone’s plate.

Days when you realize that hey, you wouldn’t make too sorry a family in the days of the Revolution. I mean, look at all these working hands!

Days when you walk into a barn bigger than the land owner’s home itself, and are confronted with the fact that the barn was probably more important than the house, when it came down to it.

Days when you hear muskets fired, and flinch at the idea that a 13 year-old boy should be part of the image … then realize that more than a few 13 year-old boys have lost their lives in wars here and around the globe.

 

Those are the days when the question “What did you learn today?” will be answered eagerly, with detail, and excitement, right?

Apparently, yes.

But only if it was the donkey you were asking about. Seriously. The donkey? The one I didn’t even take a photo of? One single animal?

Sigh.

So yeah, I took my kids to learn about donkeys the other day …