lesson in unschooling 2

wednesday morning, 10 o'clock. three hours away from her second ballet lesson.

- so, you're going to ballet again this afternoon... that's nice!
- i don't want to go.
- why not?
- i want to learn to dance.
- ... well, that's why you're going to ballet...
- ... but when do we start learning to dance then?
- you already did, last week...
- no, we didn't, we just had to sit, and walk and stand. that's not dancing.

(i was about to point out that sitting and walking and standing are all necessary preliminary steps, that you first learn that, and then you learn to dance. but i stopped. and pondered. was this really true??? i knew exactly what she meant, and i also knew she was right: sitting and walking and standing because somebody tells you to has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with dancing...)

- well, why don't you try it one or two more times, and if you still don't like it, you can stop.
- ... ok... but then you speak to the juffie, and ask her when we will learn to dance!

(i swear to you, unschooling is going to help me get over many social hurdles... flying over them, as it were, face first, straight into the mud...)