Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
Its meaning, it is more worthwhile to teach someone to do something, than to do something for them. This is our motto. We plan to teach our son to be able to survive in life on his own, for we know mommy and daddy will not be around all the time to do this for him, and we want him to learn how to survive on his own.
We also plan to teach him the proper english and mathematics he will need to know for educational purposes. However, we will not adhere to a schedule pushed on us by society, rather we will focus on what is at hand and the rest will fall into place. To some at his age he may seem smart, and to others not, but to us he is where he should be - learning at a pace without societies influences of statistics, norms, and consumerism. He will be able to read, write, add, and subtract - like all the rest of his peers; and also be able to fish, sail, fix a motor, have good manners, cook, enjoy life, and so on . . .
We currently allow interaction with peers his age in certain arenas. He is very talkative and friendly with other children his age. At times, he is aloof with other children because they are raised within the norms of society, and he is not. There are places he goes and some children are extremely friendly with him and do not pass judgment on his way of life. And then there are the others, who think he is weird (because he is wearing his life jacket outside the marina or loving his toy boat) and will either shy away from him or ridicule him for being different. He will have to learn, as we all did, how to deal with all kinds of people, the good and the bad.
For now we focus on the Salmon run, to catch one of those big yummy fish, so we can feed ourselves for a while. And if we learn other things through this adventure, like a new song or how many seals we see as we row/sail out to the Salmon spot, then it is an added bonus.
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