I wanted to do a post about what "schooling" looks like for us and what the general plan is for the kids in our family. Although I only have an almost-two-year-old and know this could change as the years go on, I really like what we've established as "normal" for our family thus far and think the foundation has been well set for an enjoyable, beneficial, and effective learn-as-you-go lifestyle.
Learning happens wherever you are.
First and foremost, our "educational philosophy," if you will, is that learning happens wherever you are. This is primarily accepted in society to be true of toddlers and preschoolers. But, it is often assumed that beyond kindergarten age, the majority of learning should be done in a classroom setting. Of course, being an ex-teacher, I adore classroom learning! I think it's wonderful to be instructed by a trained professional who not only has learned the ins and outs of child brain development, but has spent countless hours in lesson planning and getting to know your individual child and creating lessons that would (hopefully) benefit them and their learning needs. So, I am not entirely discounting traditional schooling, particularly when it involves a quality, passionate, well-trained, dedicated teacher. But, the awesome reality is that kids learn outside of school just as much, if not more, than they do in school. Keeping this fact in mind helps keep me focused on what kind of environment I choose to provide for my child(ren) in our home.
On-the-go learning.
We've established that learning takes place wherever you go, but I'd like to focus for a moment on intentional on-the-go learning. Going about your day, running errands, playing toys, reading books, interacting with friends can all be learning experiences for your child whether or not you intend them to be. But, imagine would could happen if
you did intend them to be learning experiences! Being intentional in talking with our children throughout the day about the things they are seeing and observing has already proven to be quite beneficial. I know that each kid is different and I only have experience with my ONE child, so this is not an end-all-be-all clause; but, I do think there must be some correlation to the degree of my son's vocabulary and the amount of time I've spent talking to him in his life. Albeit, while some of this was intentional, part of it is just a side effect of the fact that I am a chatterbox. :)
On-the-go learning does not only mean the haphazard moments in your day that you attempt to make into learning opportunities (as often happens here!), but it involves deciding where being "on-the-go" can take you. We love to go to the museum with our besties and do so about once a week. Every other month our library offers a Toddler Time class once a week. We love to go to that and read books, sing songs, and make crafts. Going to the grocery store, albeit at times a pain in the butt to do with a toddler, can be a wonderful learning experience if I have the time and energy to make it into one. Starting at about 20-21 months, Burkley has helped us grocery shop by walking next to the cart and helping put items in once we've described them to him and he's found them on the shelves. Trips to the zoo when the weather's nice and walks around the neighborhood are some other ideas to promote on-the-go learning.
In-the-home learning.
Learning in our home also happens more or less all the time, because it's just what toddlers do: they learn. Playing with dolls, building with blocks, acting out scenes with animals, playing tag with the dog, reading books, coloring pictures, playing musical instruments are all things that happen pretty much every day in our home. Lest you think that every waking moment of my son's day I am in his face making sure he is learning, I will assure you that the list I just described is made of things that he does generally on his own, unless he asks me to join him. He knows where to find his books, toys, and musical instruments. He knows how to open his toy box and choose what he'd like to play. I can practically see his brain learning as he develops his independence, decision-making-skills, and engages in creative play.
Then there are the more intentional learning times that I provide either when he asks for them or when it seems convenient or natural to segue into them from another activity. Once a teacher, always a teacher, I always say! Admittedly, it is hard for me to turn off my tendency to see a learning opportunity and take advantage of it, and it is also natural (almost obligatory, to be honest!) for me to make something be a learning opportunity if my son is up for it. Doing puzzles together, making pictures, reading books can all be fun activities that I can gently mold into learning activities. Practicing letters, counting, animal names, colors, science, and the like, can all be done with some of the great books we have from UsBorne. Of course, you don't have to have any special books to make this work, it can be done with really any book. We also, admittedly, have a few "apps" for the iPod that Burkley loves to play, and some go-to videos on pbskids.org for when we all need some downtime. The choices made for what he plays and watches are quite intentional and I have seen their benefits.
Then, there's "school." In our home, we will do some form of formal educating. This will likely look different for each child, depending on their desires and preferences. Because I have a host of resources from my teaching days, it is easy for me to grab some materials and put together quick, easy, fun, engaging lessons for little minds. But, you don't have to be an ex-teacher for that to be true for you. You just have to know your child and be willing to spend a few minutes thinking of an activity or doing a quick search on Google. ;) Once a week I have the pleasure of teaching my bestie's daughter preschool/kindergarten for an hour. She homeschools her daughter in a similar flexible manner as we plan to, though since her kids are older, she has some more plans in place. Part of her plan is to have me work with her almost-5-year-old on numbers and letters once a week. We did this last school year and have just started this fall. It's so fun to have some one-on-one time with this sweet girl and she is one smart cookie. Burkley enjoys coming to "school" with her, though at times I do have to urge him to do something else so I can spend more focused time with Esther. However, this "school" idea has really caught his attention and he loves it. He now asks to "do school" and could spend hours in our school room if I had the attention span for it. You can read about what my bestie Sarah does for her kiddos for school here.
Just for fun (and again, the teacher in me wants to keep records), I thought about trying to keep tabs on his progress. The most efficient way to do this seemed to be to take a picture. He asked me to practice letters. So, I wrote them, one at a time on this board. I asked him what each one was and what sound it makes. I underlined the ones he got right. For example, for "B," he said, "B: buh, buh, Burkley!" The picture of ice cream I drew above the "I" was a hint- I realized I made the "I" different than other ones he's seen, so I wanted to give him a clue. :) When I got to "L," he asked me to draw a lion, so that's what's there on the bottom right. For "M," he said "W," which is obviously easy to confuse. Then, after I did all of these letters, he grabbed a different white board and marker and started writing his own letters and various pictures. He wrote "D" "V" and "W" and told me what they were, so I jotted that down on my board as a note to remember what he showed me he could do. I don't expect him to get all of these right every time from here on out, but it will be interesting to see how he grows in his understanding of letters. The best part of all of this was that I never once asked him to sit down and practice letters. He asked me to do it and was excited and patient through almost the whole thing. It was a fun way to start our morning, even if it was bright and early when he excitedly dragged his sleepy mama to the school room.
Learning looks different for every family and there practically are infinite amount of ways you can create an educational environment in your home. Ideas run the gammit from fully traditional education to "radical unschooling" and finding the balance that works for your children is key. Here are some links to other blog posts by some of the volunteers over at The Natural Parents Network who wrote about their families' educational philosophies. It's great to read through what other families do even if it is just to collect ideas for yourself!
http://naturalparentsnetwork.com/inspired-by-reggio-emilia/
http://farmersdaughterct.com/2012/09/16/an-adventure-in-unschooling/
http://vibrantwanderings.com/2011/12/the-schooling-dilemma-part-3-where-it-all-leaves-us.html
http://www.amywilla.com/2012/10/teaching-toddler-table-manners-a-montessori-inspired-approach/
http://mommybahn.blogspot.com/2006/03/philosenpfeffer-201.html
Any of these links have places for you explore further these families ways of thinking and processing through what schooling will look like for them. And you can find many schooling resources on this page of the Natural Parents Network site.
Learning happens wherever you are.
First and foremost, our "educational philosophy," if you will, is that learning happens wherever you are. This is primarily accepted in society to be true of toddlers and preschoolers. But, it is often assumed that beyond kindergarten age, the majority of learning should be done in a classroom setting. Of course, being an ex-teacher, I adore classroom learning! I think it's wonderful to be instructed by a trained professional who not only has learned the ins and outs of child brain development, but has spent countless hours in lesson planning and getting to know your individual child and creating lessons that would (hopefully) benefit them and their learning needs. So, I am not entirely discounting traditional schooling, particularly when it involves a quality, passionate, well-trained, dedicated teacher. But, the awesome reality is that kids learn outside of school just as much, if not more, than they do in school. Keeping this fact in mind helps keep me focused on what kind of environment I choose to provide for my child(ren) in our home.
On-the-go learning.
We've established that learning takes place wherever you go, but I'd like to focus for a moment on intentional on-the-go learning. Going about your day, running errands, playing toys, reading books, interacting with friends can all be learning experiences for your child whether or not you intend them to be. But, imagine would could happen if
 |
| Playing with shapes at the museum |
On-the-go learning does not only mean the haphazard moments in your day that you attempt to make into learning opportunities (as often happens here!), but it involves deciding where being "on-the-go" can take you. We love to go to the museum with our besties and do so about once a week. Every other month our library offers a Toddler Time class once a week. We love to go to that and read books, sing songs, and make crafts. Going to the grocery store, albeit at times a pain in the butt to do with a toddler, can be a wonderful learning experience if I have the time and energy to make it into one. Starting at about 20-21 months, Burkley has helped us grocery shop by walking next to the cart and helping put items in once we've described them to him and he's found them on the shelves. Trips to the zoo when the weather's nice and walks around the neighborhood are some other ideas to promote on-the-go learning.
In-the-home learning.
Learning in our home also happens more or less all the time, because it's just what toddlers do: they learn. Playing with dolls, building with blocks, acting out scenes with animals, playing tag with the dog, reading books, coloring pictures, playing musical instruments are all things that happen pretty much every day in our home. Lest you think that every waking moment of my son's day I am in his face making sure he is learning, I will assure you that the list I just described is made of things that he does generally on his own, unless he asks me to join him. He knows where to find his books, toys, and musical instruments. He knows how to open his toy box and choose what he'd like to play. I can practically see his brain learning as he develops his independence, decision-making-skills, and engages in creative play.
 |
| Some electronic learning with Daddy |
 |
| Practicing his letters, per his request |
 |
| (See paragraph below for explanation.) |
Just for fun (and again, the teacher in me wants to keep records), I thought about trying to keep tabs on his progress. The most efficient way to do this seemed to be to take a picture. He asked me to practice letters. So, I wrote them, one at a time on this board. I asked him what each one was and what sound it makes. I underlined the ones he got right. For example, for "B," he said, "B: buh, buh, Burkley!" The picture of ice cream I drew above the "I" was a hint- I realized I made the "I" different than other ones he's seen, so I wanted to give him a clue. :) When I got to "L," he asked me to draw a lion, so that's what's there on the bottom right. For "M," he said "W," which is obviously easy to confuse. Then, after I did all of these letters, he grabbed a different white board and marker and started writing his own letters and various pictures. He wrote "D" "V" and "W" and told me what they were, so I jotted that down on my board as a note to remember what he showed me he could do. I don't expect him to get all of these right every time from here on out, but it will be interesting to see how he grows in his understanding of letters. The best part of all of this was that I never once asked him to sit down and practice letters. He asked me to do it and was excited and patient through almost the whole thing. It was a fun way to start our morning, even if it was bright and early when he excitedly dragged his sleepy mama to the school room.
Learning looks different for every family and there practically are infinite amount of ways you can create an educational environment in your home. Ideas run the gammit from fully traditional education to "radical unschooling" and finding the balance that works for your children is key. Here are some links to other blog posts by some of the volunteers over at The Natural Parents Network who wrote about their families' educational philosophies. It's great to read through what other families do even if it is just to collect ideas for yourself!
http://naturalparentsnetwork.com/inspired-by-reggio-emilia/
http://farmersdaughterct.com/2012/09/16/an-adventure-in-unschooling/
http://vibrantwanderings.com/2011/12/the-schooling-dilemma-part-3-where-it-all-leaves-us.html
http://www.amywilla.com/2012/10/teaching-toddler-table-manners-a-montessori-inspired-approach/
http://mommybahn.blogspot.com/2006/03/philosenpfeffer-201.html
Any of these links have places for you explore further these families ways of thinking and processing through what schooling will look like for them. And you can find many schooling resources on this page of the Natural Parents Network site.
Burkley is pretty great at learning new things where ever! He's just so stinkin' interested!! I think it's cool that he has the benefit of Esther, sort of like an older sibling to make him WANT to sit down and do stuff! :) Great post!
ReplyDelete