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I’m looking for new ideas for learning that doesn’t involve sitting at a table, because that just does not work in our house.
Elsie Brooks and sophie-wright9 Comments-
Audiobooks in the car, maths on the kitchen floor with actual coins, and a whiteboard on the wall so nothing has to be sat down for. The table only comes out for painting now.
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@clara-wells There are some good ideas there. Thank you
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Getting out of the house always worked for us. Even if it was just for a walk along the canal or through a forest it would always prompt questions. How does a lock work”, Why are all of the trees the same here?’, ‘what bird made that sound?’ It is amazing how much learning you can get into simple questions like that.
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@sophie-wright I second this. In our house the best question come at one of two times: When we are out or right before they fall asleep!
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@elsie-brooks It’s the same in our house, a zillion questions just as they are falling asleep.
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@evelyn-rees We keep a note of questions like these, especially the bedtime ones, because I would never remember them all! If there is a quick answer, we look it up together. If it needs more research or leads to other questions, it can become a whole project.
I also realised that mine were far more focused later in the day and not really with it in the mornings, so we gradually moved more of our learning to the afternoon and evening. It works much better for us. That’s the advantage of home educating, your children can learn at anytime.
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@elsie-brooks It was the same with my children and it is still the same with my grandchildren
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@sophie-wright I get what you are saying, I just find it really hard to work out the learning that is coming from the question. I think I’m still in the school mindset that if they’re doing a worksheet on fractions, I know that is what they are learning. I am desperately trying to get away from that.
If I use your example of being in an forest and they ask why are all the trees the same. Firstly I wouldn’t know the answer and then even if I did, what learning could I say came from that?-
@evelyn-rees You don’t need to have the answers, that is part of the fun. I often said, “That’s a great question. I don’t know, but let’s find out when we get home.”
With the trees, you might discover that they were planted as part of a conservation project. That could lead to identifying the species, learning why those particular trees were chosen, discussing habitats and biodiversity, looking at local history or even estimating the trees’ ages and heights. That one question could include science, geography, history and maths without needing to become a formal lesson. Remember observation and curiosity are part of learning too.
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