Education is an Onion

Yesterday my daughter had a dance audition in Lancaster. It is something she passionately wants to do and she was very excited.Once again it occured to me that here was my daughter (despite it being  a Saturday) choosing to educate herself and challenge her abilities beyond the scope of school . She was missing a voluntary school dance  session to take part and had been challenged on her commitment by her school teacher who knew nothing about her audition, when in fact my daughter was choosing to pit her chances against dancers far older and more experienced than her and with  dance teachers with a varied and professional history of dance.The injustice of it all only makes my daughter more determined to succeed.Somewhere along the way she outgrew her school teacher and realised that there was knowledge and information which she wasn't learning in the classroom .

Dance wasn't the only thing she learned.There were  the life skills of reading a train timetable, travelling to a strange town and navigating her way to the dance studio.This time ,at her request, I went with her. but she felt that she would be confident enough to do it herself next time.

As a by-product of  the trip to her audition I decided to find out a little bit about the history of Lancaster as I hadn't been into the city for years.I visited Lancaster museum where there was an exhibition about the  agricultural history of the area which has some of the most fertile land for vegetable growing in the UK.

Upstairs were the permanent displays about the city of Lancaster from roman times to the present day, including the famous medeival castle dating from the 1300's and famous for its witch trials . The Kings Own Royal Regiment also had their military displays there and  I picked up leaflets and took photos for Google who has a passion for all things military.

I also popped into the Assembly rooms and visited the little chapel of the almshouses next door, a very peaceful refuge from the busy city traffic.


My trip really only glossed over the surface of what Lancaster has to offer but I realised that the lessons learned today had been threefold.My daughter's passion had led us up a new road of adventure.I had begun to learn about the history and architecture of the city and been able to pass on some of what I'd learned to Google when I got home.A bit like the layers of an onion really.The outside layer is only the beginning.If you peel away the outside layer you find out even more inside !All you need is an enquiring mind.