My boy checked out "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" by Edgar Allan Poe.  This morning he bundled up, perched himself in the hammock, and swayed there reading out loud to himself, the cat, the chickens, and our old dog who was full of saucy chill-inspired wrangle and was running in playful circles in the yard.   What's remarkable about this, other than the fact that it was 38* outside, was that Poe is hard for him.  He's having to work hard to read Poe.  Poe is a challenge.  The first real language challenge this kid has encountered in a long time.  I admire him for meeting it and I like his style.  

Academics constantly fret over perception.  Worrying worse than any character ever imagined by Poe, that children won't comprehend what they read.  Which is obviously not an issue with unschoolers.  Children who are free don't read what they don't understand, any more than I would pour over text in Sanskrit.  Unless they are pushing themselves.  And if left to themselves, they will push out and up in their own time.  No need to test.  They teach themselves to mastery.  A phrase for which I am thankful.  

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.  ~e. e. cummings