My daughter ran shrieking through the house, saying something about Zeus, and the Cyclops, and I think she mentioned Hercules in there somewhere. As she bounded up the stairs, my son zoomed past me, too. With a sword in one hand he yelled, “We’re the bad sea monsters, and Shaggy and Scooby are going to…
Category: Ideas and Inspiration
10 Unusual Ways to Explore Art
My memories of art in kindergarten: cut and paste creations, detailed instructions of how to color inside the lines and reminders to “follow directions.” High school art wasn’t much better. I wanted to create art and often had pretty cool ideas of what I wanted to make, yet I often felt frustrated. While the three dimensional…
Are You Doing An Injustice to Children By Catering to What They Want to Learn All the Time?
I was asked this question just a few weeks ago. The person who asked this followed up by saying that the real world doesn’t do that; that you do what they want you to do when they want you to do it. On the surface, many people would probably agree with the statement my friend…
10 Unusual Ways to Explore Writing
I think most kids are born natural storytellers. By the age of 5, they’ve already come up with hundreds of unique story plots, plays or songs. Their imaginations are incredible. Unfortunately, most kids lose that drive and excitement for creating their own imaginative worlds by the time they’re 8 or 9. By focusing on perfect…
A Collection of 100 Quotes About Natural, Self-Directed Learning & Compulsory Schooling
In a few days, we will be celebrating the 4th of July, our day of independence, in the United States. Almost 250 years ago a few brave men (and some women!) broke against the mainstream and fought for a future where they could self-direct their own lives. African Americans and women had to fight…
10 Unusual Ways to Explore Science
I think all kids are born scientists. They all want to explore their world and figure it out from the day they’re born. They ask questions about where things come from, how things work and what they do. They love to play with water, snow, ice and mud. Unfortunately for many children, their explorations are…
Five Fears That Prevent Real Learning
I remember sitting with the rest of my class on the floor. I must have been about six or seven. I had tried and tried and just couldn’t hold back any longer; I had to go to the bathroom. I raised my hand, like a good girl, and asked to go. No, I couldn’t go,…
10 Unusual Ways to Explore History
History. At first I couldn’t understand why so many people I talk to say they dislike learning about history. How could you not like history? History is all about stories- stories about romance, mystery, adventure, pain and hardship, joy and laughter and a thousand other things. There should be something there for everyone, right? But…
Obama expects kindergarteners to sit still….What?
I was blown away when I read an article that was published on CNSNews.com a few weeks ago about a $500 million Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge endorsed by President Obama. In the article, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius made this statement…. “You really need to look at the range of…
10 Unusual Ways to Explore Math
I confess. I never really liked math. I played the school game well so I received pretty good grades, but after I passed the test (even after receiving an A in most cases), those rules, theorems and facts didn’t stick around for very long. The problem was everything was drilled into me, or as I…