One of Ian's requirements for homeschooling is for what is called "supplemental activities." These can range from going to the opera to watching a play or any variety of activities that are almost impossible to get a 13 year old boy to do.
So I had the brilliant idea to ask our neighbor Skip if he could teach Ian all the things that Mike, Ian's dad couldn't. Now my husband is practically brilliant when it comes to anything to do with our house. I know he could build one from the ground up. But when it comes to anything mechanical he says "Call Mike Garret down at HiCountry Motors." He can put windshield fluid in and check the oil, but that's his limit and he shows no inclination to discover the wonderful world of mechanics.
But Skip. Now Skip is brilliant in the world of mechanics.
When we first moved to Granby I thought Skip was about 60, but last year he celebrated his 82 birthday. I know he looks and acts younger than his years because he is always "tinkering." So I thought that maybe Skip would be willing to take Ian on.
So I wandered over there one day and proposed that I pay him to tutor Ian in the fine art of "tinkering."
"Oh hell," he said, "just send him over after I get done haying."
Skip has upteem acres of what many people would term "junk," but to 13 year old boys, Skip's property is a veritable treasure trove. He doesn't believe in dumps nor does he believe in throwing anything away. Skip has lived there forever and was the first person this side of the Rockies to raise Longhorns.
The last time Ian and his friend Chance went "hunting" at Skips', they brought home a pair of size 6 leopard colored heels, a baskeball net with no net, a neck warmer filled with rice and a round, plastic disc-sled with only one crack in it.
Skip also has a 10 acre reservoir which I have creatively named "Skip's Reservoir."
Last summer, Ian, Chance, myself and Baily (my favorite 7 year old of all-time) spent as much time as possible at his reservoir. Baily and I floated around on a plastice Tahiti that had only a few holes and Chance and Ian caught leeches. I think last summer was the only time I said, "Ian, get the leeches out of my car!" Now how many times in your life can you say that?
Ian is extremely excited about spending time with Skip. Skip is going to teach him how to use a welder, which is, as far as I'm concerned, the only legal way to melt metal. He's also going to take apart a tractor. When Skip told me this I said, "Why, what's wrong with it?"
"Nothing's wrong with it, it's just a good thing to know how to do."
I think so. I think it would be really, really cool to know how to take apart a tractor and when I mentioned that I'd like to maybe tag along, Ian said I couldn't. "This is only for boys, mom."
Sometimes it's okay to be sexist.
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