The Child Philosopher

It never ceases to amaze me what children have on their minds. Why do we think we have so much to teach them? Why don't we trust?

For me, home education has become, more than anything, a challenge to remember that children are not little pieces of clay we are supposed to mold. Or, if they are in some way, well they bring their own form inherent in the clay, and we would do well to let it inform the way we hold and shape.

Today I found this from Sonia. I didn't tell her to write it. I didn't ask her to pose big philosophical questions. She did it on her own...

The Beginning or the End

A question that can't be answered
by anyone, but can be answered
by everyone,
which is better, the beginning
or the end?

The beginning is a new baby
born, a new friend,
an end is when things
stop.

Which is better,
the beginning of a book
or the end?

The beginning is when you
are intrigued, when you know
it keeps on going,
the end is when you're satisfied
and slap your book down on
the table with a triumphant
BANG, or sit alone thinking
or cry.

Which is better, the beginning
or the end?
There can be a new beginning,
yet a new beginning is the end,
the end of the old beginning,
they're the same.

Which is better? Neither?


Poem by Sonia, 11. Ruby Falls underground photo, by L.L. Barkat.