There are numerous reasons I chose to go into teaching, but one of the reasons that I experience day in and day out is the exhilaration felt each and every time a child has an 'AHA moment'. This is that moment when there is complete understanding, insight or discovery which sets aside all other thoughts.
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| An 'AHA moment' when Noah discovered he could take Baby Jesus out of the manger. |
In the Montessori classroom, these moments fill the day.
It could be as simple as a child actually seeing the lateral line on the fish's body after we learned what it was for, it could be something more complex as the child cuts apart parallelograms, creating rectangles, thus seeing for themselves how to find the area. It could be the simple observation of the butterfly emerging from its cocoon. The 'AHA moments' are precious and have the ability to stop me right in my tracks!
Last night I was busy in the kitchen being Mom. Noah was by me, working on his Latin.
"MOM!" he yells (I was literally two feet away from him...not necessary at all for him to yell).
I was about to open my mouth and call him out on yelling when he exclaimed, "I have the word 'corona' today! Did you know it means 'crown'?!"
I swallowed what I was going to say and switched gears. "Is that right? I wonder why the virus would be named Corona then?"
He so matter-a-factly stated, "Because it has a crown."
I hadn't really thought about it, but it certainly peeked my curiosity and I had to look it up. Sure enough, I had my own 'AHA moment' when I saw that each virion has a halo around it. (Check it out here.)
This whole ten-ish minutes brought to mind how life can get so busy and easily just pass by. Life can be heavy and easily weigh us down. Life can be full of unknowns and easily cause stress and anxiety. I can get so caught up in what I am doing, making sure to hold my children accountable and become so busy being a 'parent' that I can easily miss the 'AHA Moments' life brings ME.
How we choose to respond makes all the difference. I won't claim to always respond in the way I was able to last night, but it does inspire me to work on it and look daily for more 'AHA moments' in life.
Join me.
What was your 'AHA moment' this week?
Post it below or send it to me!
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Join me for many great moments with the SJB Community (and anyone out there connecting virtually), tomorrow, Friday, April 24 at 8:30pm on our Face Book page.
Ann Thelen (mother of Bea, James and Caedmon) is being 'interviewed' about her Catholic school distance learning experience. This will be live streamed and all you need to do is tune in at 8:30pm.
See you there!
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Corona Angela ... halo around it??? :)
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