Yesterday we took a field trip to a science center where Monet and Houdin spent a good portion of the day making water rockets using 2-liter and 1-liter bottles (photos to follow at a later time). The instructor was fantastic, a woman who allowed the kids to answer questions and didn't judge or ridicule when the answers were wrong or off-the-mark. It's so refreshing to find a person like that. At one point she asked a question to which Houdin replied, "I don't know." She told him that she was impressed that he could admit that and told us that her husband still can't admit that he doesn't know something. She encouraged creative thought and experimentation with a gentle, kind assistance that I find so rare in adults.
After observing Houdin throughout the class, watching him follow instructions and seeing how encouraging and helpful he was to the younger participants, she offered him a spot as a counselor at their upcoming space camp, free of charge. This was a dream-come-true, as he'd been talking about that camp since he first brought the paper home from an educational fair months ago, but because we'd already committed to Bard's China trip, there wasn't any room for it in the budget.
It's wonderful to interact with people who have such genuine interest and respect for young learners. Those are the kinds of people who grow intelligent, respectful adults.
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