Beach Day at School

We're in the middle of Beach Day at our new homeschool, which I hope to make a weekly event. You may think I blog an awful lot about the beach and/or ocean, and it's true that we are here quite often. But that's largely because it is the main place to go here for any kind of variety/entertainment/refreshment. The Indian Ocean has become our park, Children's Museum, Conner Prairie, Zoo, Eiteljorg, canal, White River and everyplace else that we enjoyed in Indianapolis. And really, who wouldn't like to have school with tide coming in twenty yards away? I am so excited about how well this is going!

Ruby and I came prepared with a couple of school books (The Tale of Three Trees and The First Christians) and worksheets, some observation activities and our Bible, which is bin one each day at home.

However, our day has been hijacked by a tiny, one inch long gecko lizard that somehow landed on my backpack, which was sitting upright between our lounge chairs near the beach. This little guy, named Echo by Ruby, has spent the last 45 minutes shedding his skin inches from our noses.

Beginning with his tiny toes (which Ruby reminded me are covered with thousands of tiny hairs), he used the zipper seam of the bag to slough off his leg skin, then rubbed his nose against the zipper until it looked like he had on a Lone Ranger mask. Seriously, this little lizard has performance in its future...it just keeps staying on the backpack while we watch it.

Ruby is faithfully noting each event:

"He has four toes on each foot!"

"It is EATING IT'S SKIN!!!"

"Do you think that lizard will go to heaven when it dies?"

"How many fish will those men catch today?"

"Why did God make crows? Just to steal our food?"

"I'm going to catch that crow and get my food back!"

"Is that boat sinking?"

After a short break with the mask on, Echo continued pulling off the rest of his old skin, pausing several times to eat loose skin around his legs, and to just plain rest. For a lizard smaller than a child's finger, this is hard work!

I wish I had my camera here with its macro lens to take photos of all this action. It's been a perfect school day for us, with fishing boats showing up just at the right time in The Three Trees when they build the boat from the second tree, the gecko providing a great observation opportunity, and Ruby and I having great talks about all of it.

The last of the old, dull tail skin is being eaten by Echo, and he's now looking quite fresh and dark brown. We're back to rhyming words, reading books, counting ants and stones and sorting shells, and describing the beauty around us as the tide rolls away. And I'm very thankful for this time with my daughter and that we jumped into homeschooling with both feet.