Book of Days

Recent and continuing passions of a 13 year old boy:

Birds - Josh has been birding now for about three years and the passion only seems to grow for him. As he has 305 life birds, now it gets harder and harder to add to it. He’s seen pretty much everything around our area. As a result, lately it has become  more about the behavior and cycles of the season than adding to the list (although a bird like the Hooded Warbler from yesterday certainly warrants excitement for the life list). Josh and his dad headed over to Red Springs late yesterday afternoon so that his dad could get a sighting of the Hooded Warbler I told you about in the last post. Josh was as amazed by it the second time as when we originally saw it in the morning. We were also pleased to see the Wilson’s Warbler in our backyard yet again. Seems this little fellow is having a nice visit with us. We are set for a field trip tomorrow with our local Audubon group and can’t wait. As we have been dealing with medical issues most of the year with Josh’s older briother and one sister, we have not been able to participate as much as we had in the past years. It will be fun to see old friends again.

A magazine - A few months ago, during a bookstore visit looking for a magazine to read, Josh happened upon The Economist. It has become his favorite magazine and each week he devours the lastest issue as soon as it comes out. He shares what he reads with the family and lots of discussions ensue as a result. I try and read some of the articles but I can never keep up with him. I am always amazed at the depth of his understanding of sometimes very complicated issues… sometimes he’s the one explaining things to me, shoot MOST times he’s the one explaining things to me! Thank goodness then for….

An Older Sister - Josh’s oldest sister is 24 and the two of them couldn’t be more alike if they had been twins. They are both intellectuals, (they teasingly call each other The Nerds), their taste of music is similiar, they love reading and discussing issues of any and every kind, and they are both sensitive souls. It is said same sister who has talked him into reading Dante’s Inferno with her this summer and who recommended Chinua Achebe’s, Things Fall Apart to him as well as many other books, articles etc. This afternoon she came home in between a final exam and work and they promply got into a discussion on the recent French Presidential election and the recent Democratic and Republican debates among other things. I sat back for the most part, smiling and listening to these two children of mine and marveling at how blessed I feel to be their mother and the chance that homeschooling has given our family to be with each other.