Nov 2, 2022
Hosenka Trouble for Kid
I've mentioned before how happy it makes me that my kid gets to learn basic botany in a natural way with her schooling. It seems like a common thing for schools in Japan to use things like summer homework activities that include taking care of a plant as a way to teach kids a little bit about life, basic horticulture, and responsibility.
This all started in first grade for us when she brought home a morning glory. While that plant is common both in my homeland and here, it's not one that I ever grew. Previous to the morning glories taking over the balcony, I had thought that I lacked the diligence or care to keep up with a balcony garden but we managed to keep those plants alive and happy for the whole summer.
The next year it was a tomato plant and that was a lot of fun because it also made delicious sweet mini tomatoes. At this point I felt like I was somewhat in charge of what my balcony was doing and knew how to grow something anyway.
Hosenka in July. If I'd been paying attention, I would have already noticed the brown leaves.
This year the summer plant was the hosenka, a tall green thing that lived on our balcony for the entirety of summer vacation. The worksheets that she was meant to fill out as the assignment included drawing and describing the buds, flowers and seed pods when each of these occurred.
Hosenka in August. Taller, but troubled.
I watered it and tried to pay attention but as the last week of summer vacation loomed, I became aware that we still had not seen even a single bud. I was really upset, thinking that my kid was going to have trouble in class because of her lack of ability to do the assignment. I also thought the assignment was kind of unfair. Expecting them to be able to control whether or not the plant chooses to put out a bud or a flower or a seed seems like a lot to put on the shoulders of small children.
As that last week came into focus, I finally took a more active look at the plant and compared photos from my phone from the months previous. While it had grown taller, it had also lost some of its lower leaves to an over crisp browning, which would indicate to anyone who is really paying attention that the thing was getting too much sun. I moved it to another part of the balcony that gets a little bit less sun and within 2 days, we saw the tiniest of little buds.
There we go!
When she went back to school, at least she had something to turn in for that assignment. It turned out that a lot of kids had similar problems getting the plant to actually do what it was supposed to do for the assignment, and it doesn't seem like the teacher counted off for nature taking its course and its sweet time.
So if your kid has an assignment featuring a plant that is not doing its job, make sure to take a look at the plant and see if it has any special needs that you haven't seen to, like adjusting the amount of sun or water. Also, keep in mind that the teacher knows that nature cannot always be rushed and your kid will probably be fine as long as the plant is alive.
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