stories with the Hero

I am doing a very informal set of unit studies with the Hero.

The first was on dolls, specifically boys who have dolls. I accidentally stumbled on a list of fiction on that theme. Since the Hero loves his "babies", and he's at an age when many boys stop playing with them, I immediately requested from the library any age-appropriate titles on the list. I kept it low key, not discussing what these books all had in common, figuring I'd let him point it out if he noticed. He doesn't seem to have. He's playing with his babies as much as ever, and that's how it hopefully shall stay. I consider this unit a little inoculation against sexist anti-doll sentiment.

The second was on autumn and anything associated. We read about harvest festivals, how farms function, why leaves change color, how birds migrate and bears hibernate, Earth's funny tilt. The Hero was especially taken with a book called Apple Cider Making Days, declaring afterwards that when he grows up he is going to have an apple farm. All his loved ones are going to pick, sort, and smush the apples, bake dough-nuts and pies to sale, and man the barn stand. I was delighted in true Jewish mother fashion; this is the first reasonable ambition he has expressed. May it come true, my little love. It's a sweet dream, and much more practical than growing up to be a feline stay-at-home dad as you previously planned.

Because he loved that aspect of that study, I am doing an extended unit on apples. There are so many good fairy tales with apples at their center. I've requested a stack of them from the library. I can't wait to make apple dolls, too!

Concurrently to the seasons theme, I worked with the Hero a bit on the four elements: earth, air, water and fire. This is a part of the religious practice of many Neo-pagans, essential knowledge in learning to do simple little house magics, and helpful to understanding astrology, Tarot cards, and reams of Western literature. Jane Ray's lovely title is at the core of that unit. We're making charts everyday, little circles of correspondences. Today I connected the elements to cardinal directions for him and we all walked around the house pointing West until the concept finally clicked. We also read How Artists See The Four Elements. The big kids have been drawn in to this, listening in, sharing their opinions about correspondences, and providing helpful extra information they think their brother needs to know.

The last one I currently have planned is on dragons. It's Michaelmas season. We've never celebrated that, but autumn gives me a feeling of dragons deep in my belly. It's surprisingly hard to find archetypal tales in which the dragon is a thing to defeat (and I have eleven years of looking for such behind me). Everyone seems to have had the idea to turn the dichotomy of evil/good on its side and make the whole scene gray. Great, but, not really, not when that's all that's left and you have little people to satiate who are all full of ancient feelings about being small in a world filled with great things. Anyway, sometimes there is a fire-breathing dragon to defeat. Just ask the folks who have had their water fracked. Stories of gray versus gray don't create little people who can work up the strength to fight city hall.

I'm not sure what units to do after that. I could go element by element and take my topics from those themes. I'd like to do more science, especially natural science. I don't especially want to cover history yet. Any suggestions?