She makes sure I know how much she knows about animals anytime I tell her we are going to study animals for our science lesson.

I choose animals because I know they interest her but every time I choose animals as our subject I brace myself for her to say what she always says, “I already know that about . . .” whatever animal we are studying.  

Last week when I started an amphibians and reptiles curriculum she rolled her eyes.

“I already know all about them already,” she told me.

So I asked her a couple of questions I had a feeling she wouldn’t know. She narrowed her eyes at me and admitted she didn’t know everything about the particular amphibians we were talking about but then decided I needed to learn something too. She asked me what the difference between tortoises and turtles were. I told her I wasn’t sure so she ticked off several differences, which I can only assume she learned on Wild Kratts.

She’s been watching this show since she was probably two.

“It’s great,” I thought back then. “She’s learning while being entertained.”

The problem came when she actually started taking in all the information and regurgitating it. Now we are here in second grade and she sometimes does know a lot of what I am teaching her about the animals, but sometimes she doesn’t. Getting her to listen to see if she knows what I’m going to teach her, or not, has been a bit of a challenge.

Luckily, she’s starting to take a chance and listen to the lessons and seems to actually be enjoying them.

On the day we learned about snakes we had a game to play with the lesson and she loved it. There were a lot of questions she didn’t know the answer to and it seemed to, at first, deflate her a little, but, then, once she knew the answers she was proud to play the game again with her dad and show him what she’d learned.

One day, she decided I needed to learn what the difference was between crocodiles and alligators. So she made me watch a Wild Kratts episode that talked about the differences. I said, “But wait. I’m supposed to be teaching you.”

She said, “Well, you’re teaching me and I’m teaching you. It’s a win-win. See?”

Then she clapped her hands together.

That’s what’s been so much fun about homeschooling. Learning with my kids.

Yes, Little Miss. It’s been a win-win.