Four-year-old Estera was the busiest gardener of all. She took over the rock garden around the lamppost and beside the front sidewalk. Every time something pink, purple, or fragrant exited the minivan, she was right there digging a spot in her garden. Often I would find her chewing on a mouthful of chives as she worked. She planted hundreds of seeds, and she tended them all with care. Unfortunately, I discovered that she planted half a bag of popcorn kernels in my salad garden, and they actually grew.

Rachel was my little laundry maker. Learning to do laundry was an important educational experience too, and the children learned this skill early. Rachel liked it more than the others, though. The moment she found a speck of dirt or a damp spot on her dress, she was unloading the dryer for me and dumping out her drawers looking for a change of clothes. But only a pink dress would do—she refused to wear anything else. If her pink dresses were all dirty, I learned to stick her in a swimsuit until the laundry finished. She would help me put all the clothes into the washer. Then, Isaac turned the knobs and pushed the buttons.

The garden was a wonderful classroom, but the kitchen was even better. We found that learning fractions from a recipe book was a lot more fun than learning fractions from a textbook. And we discovered the principle of cause and effect when a box of baking powder was secretly dumped into the biscuit dough. It was challenging to get around our kitchen with four little people standing on chairs so they could see better, but turning the kitchen into a learning center was worth the trouble.

Desks, chalkboards, textbooks, and number two pencils just didn’t come to mind when my children thought about school. When they woke up each morning, they couldn’t wait to start the new adventure of learning. We didn’t even have time to get out of our pajamas before the school day began.