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| Great blue heron |
I cannot say I have a favorite season. Each one holds such beauty and wonder where I live, that I have great affection for them all. But, I am especially enjoying these late summer days stirred by the first breaths of autumn.
In two weeks we'll begin lessons again in our little home "school". I was thinking this morning about learning disabilities and how so many children have special learning needs these days.
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| Great blue heron roosting |
Are today's children so different from children of yesteryear? I don't think so. But what is demanded of children has changed a great deal. I wonder if we are limiting their learning potential by focusing too much and too early on literacy, numeracy--book learning. Should little children be looking at symbols on a page or ants on the sidewalk? It is easy to say, "Both!", but less easy to give them the time to do it. This article stands as my all-time favorite on the subject of learning and curriculum (note the year: 1929!).
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| "Edna" 8 mos. old~exploring the pond |
Keeping that article's principles in mind, when we get back to lessons next month there will be a lot of walks in the woods and on the beach, a lot of trips to museums and interesting places, a lot of making and doing. There will also be stories and articles to share and read and maps to pour over. These are the things that make up our curriculum. We make a practice of recording our adventures, experiences and impressions in words and illustrations. We enjoy many and deep conversations. Math is our servant, applied when we need it to make sense of the world or solve a problem while cooking, knitting, buying and selling, woodworking, gardening, writing music, planning a trip, etc.
We have never followed a systematic, graded, artificial scope and sequence, opting instead to make room for memorable real-life learning that will expand our minds and hearts. ♥
In other words in two weeks, we will be going not back to school : )
This post has been edited slightly for clarity.
I will be so very interested in how your "unschooling" goes. I absolutely love the sound of it and I believe wholeheartedly that it can be a wonderful way to raise children. We have been following an interest-led, delight-driven, real-life-learning scheme for two or three years now, and to be honest we're both over it. Although the theory makes so much sense, the reality has proven to be a disappointment. Our intentions did not match the actualities of daily life, and all the adventure and wonder we truly planned for wasn't as wonderful after a while. But I'm aware there are differences in our families. You have several children to contribute towards a lively atmosphere. I'm sure you will have a lot of success in this new approach. I wish you fun and joy and delight-led learning :-)
ReplyDeleteActually, this is not a new approach, but the same that we have always followed. It has worked fairly well for us. Our afternoons are for going on adventures and pursuing our own interests, whereas mornings are for table-work: books, pen and paper--which we practice diligently Monday through Friday. I don't wait for my children to come to me with an idea or topic. I guide things along. Not all of the topics we learn are interest led or delight driven, but neither do I do much planning or follow a scope and sequence per grade.
ReplyDeleteWhich is to say, that the way we approach learning is not like "school", but I wouldn't call it "unschooling" either.
Deleteyes, I see what you are saying, and it really does sound like such an idyll of education. your children are very lucky.
DeleteFirst, I must offer a very belated Happy Anniversary wish. :-) We've tried different "approaches" over the years, morphing from a traditional Waldorf approach to something that is uniquely ours (close to what you describe but with whatever topics happen to work and are age appropriate). I have to say that I feel like the latter sparks interests and passions much more than anything else. Enjoy this leg of your learning journey!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tara. : )
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