Playing School

A sandbox could be a house, roots on the dirt, a sheet draped over chairs or a table.  Any enclosure.  

Populated by dolls, a house could be a family. 

If playing house with a friend, we might say, "You be the daddy, I'll be the mommy."  

I've never quit playing house.  I love cleaning it, organizing it, changing the arrangement and decor.  

The very shapes of houses intrigue me.  I have quite a collection of miniature houses found on road trips and craft shows and flea markets, even one small pink house I found in Venice. 

After and while playing house, we played school.  "You be the teacher, I'll be the student." If you were lucky enough to be the teacher, you got to tell the student what to do. You were lucky if your student happened to be a younger brother who thought you were smart. 

I loved school.  Organizing school supplies and taking notes.  Learning for the sake of learning. Making good grades. 

In second grade--because my mind wandered during arithmetic, my teacher told my parents I'd grow up to be a writer.  It gave me a goal.  It set me on a course of reading, keeping a diary,  and making up stories.   

"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." 

I've had mediocre teachers, a few terrible ones, and too many excellent ones to count--sometimes in school. 

Life is a teacher; mistakes are teachers; accomplishment and mastery are teachers.  

My best classroom teachers were professors in graduate school--in part because they were exceptional, in part because at 32,  I was a sponge hungry for learning. 

Today, I play school.  After making a career of schooling (teaching sixth grade to college) and then leading writing groups for years, I'm now taking a class in making blank books.  The variety of types of books!  I never knew there were so many ways to fold and stitch and glue papers.  

I turn off my phone most mornings.  I need focus and quiet to concentrate on the plan for the day.  It's so satisfying to set my own goals and find exactly the teachers I'm looking for.  

It's a bit like kindergarten, too--as naps are factored in as needed! 

The beauty of septuagenarian school is that you get to be both teacher and student, and nothing is more fun than homework--which is quite a lot like continual recess with no bells.