Travis, who will be seven in one week, has taken to reading biographies. This past week he's read one on George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson, all from the Childhood of Famous American's series. He's hooked (I found him up reading before 7am this morning - a Saturday! - while the rest of the house was sound asleep).

As is our custom now that he's reading so much on his own (and even after our read aloud books together), I have him narrate back to me what he's reading. It's helps me to be sure that he's comprehending, helps him to "get it" even more after having to put it in his own words and it's fun for us to share books in that way together.

So yesterday afternoon after his quiet time, we were discussing those three biographies and I asked him what his favorite thing was about each man. He thought it was cool that George Washington was our first President and that he was a soldier. He loved reading about the adventures that Abraham Lincoln had as a young boy. For Thomas Jefferson?

"He had some good things to say, like, all men should be able to govern themselves and that we shouldn't have to pay a lot in taxes."

Excuse me? (trying to stifle my surprised laughter) Has your daddy been teaching you about self-government and taxes? I didn't think so.

So I asked him what it meant for one to govern himself. He replied that, "it seemed like people know right from wrong and they should just do it." Yes, they should.

I then asked him what taxes were and he said that he wasn't totally sure but he knew you had to pay money out of what you earned and that you just shouldn't have to pay a lot of it. No, no you shouldn't.

So it seems that conservative ideas might just be common sense after all?