How do I come up with such fabulous lessons for the children? I dunno...I dont think that I necessarily do....take yesterday---the kids watched a show with us about the Bermuda Triangle and we looked it up online, and then our conversations just GO! We end up drawing and writing and hypothesiszing and running over to the computer...I guess just like adults do. Or college students. Or anyone. Intelligent wide open connections. Thought provoking would be the best word, for sure. Because I dont shush them and punish them for thinking thoughts, their minds are expanding at an exponential rate--they dont have as a majority of their days that terror of being "wrong" or being "embarassed" in "public",therefore, like any true scientists or great thinkers, mistakes mistakes mistakes are made and tested and rethought and reworked and beautiful branches and roots and tangents form.
....and without bells to tell them "art" is over and "history" has begun, they can spend hours mixing and working with REALITY, which is not parcelled out for us in odd broken tidbits, but the World in its wholeness and fullness--with excitement and revelry (most days) instead of yawning and resentment, clock watching, daydreaming and anger.
I also dont have to "worry" about going "off topic" too much because sometimes where we end up is far more interesting, relevant or "educational" than the original topic. Bermuda triangle wasnt some big THING, it was just something we were curious about, and in discussion, we got into all sorts of other things, and a choice was presented to me: to chastise and rebuke them for wanting to study about poseidon and seismology because it wasnt Bermuda Triangle, or to cheerfully and warmly go over to Google and Cosmeo with them and start downloading.
This is what works for us and when we have the most learning going on and the most positive open minds with gears turning. Yes we do drill stuff too but I have found that homeschool depends much more on the interpersonal relationship between the child and parent than regular school which is almost exclusively dependant on the ability to short-term memorize disconnected facts for the quiz Friday.
....and without bells to tell them "art" is over and "history" has begun, they can spend hours mixing and working with REALITY, which is not parcelled out for us in odd broken tidbits, but the World in its wholeness and fullness--with excitement and revelry (most days) instead of yawning and resentment, clock watching, daydreaming and anger.
I also dont have to "worry" about going "off topic" too much because sometimes where we end up is far more interesting, relevant or "educational" than the original topic. Bermuda triangle wasnt some big THING, it was just something we were curious about, and in discussion, we got into all sorts of other things, and a choice was presented to me: to chastise and rebuke them for wanting to study about poseidon and seismology because it wasnt Bermuda Triangle, or to cheerfully and warmly go over to Google and Cosmeo with them and start downloading.
This is what works for us and when we have the most learning going on and the most positive open minds with gears turning. Yes we do drill stuff too but I have found that homeschool depends much more on the interpersonal relationship between the child and parent than regular school which is almost exclusively dependant on the ability to short-term memorize disconnected facts for the quiz Friday.
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