No matter what your interests are, travel can enrich and expand those interests. If your child likes to cook, taking him to restaurants in other parts of your country or foreign countries may spark ideas for new culinary creations. If you like to play an instrument, it’s an incredible experience to hear musical performances in…
10 Unusual Ways to Explore Music
Young children are naturally musical. It’s like they live and breathe music. My children hop and skip down aisles and sing at the top of their lungs in grocery stores. Yes, I have to admit that sometimes it can be a bit embarrassing, but most times I receive warm smiles from other shoppers. I think…
Interest-Led Travel: Stepping Off the Mainstream Path
It seems like when I talk with different people about their travel plans I usually get some variation of the same answer: Disneyworld, camping, or to a beach resort. Now, there’s definitely nothing wrong with any of those places. Although we wouldn’t choose Disneyworld as a vacation destination, we love the beach and would spend…
10 Unusual Ways to Explore Physical Fitness & Health
Whenever I think about gym class, I immediately flash back to my high school days. We’d start off rushing into the locker room to change. Then we’d shuffle into the gym where we’d sit in our designated rows while the teacher would dutifully check of that we were present (in body, anyways). Then, if we…
September – The Ultimate Month for Unschooling Travel
We’ve now entered the season of big back-to-school sales on supplies and clothes. Many parents are taking their children to register for classes and kids are trying to get in those last free days of swimming, biking, hanging with friends, and lying in bed reading whatever they want all day. Even people who aren’t in school,…
10 Unusual Ways to Explore Literature
Literature is pretty straightforward the way it’s taught in schools. Usually kids are read to, or read to themselves, a story or novel. Then they usually take a quiz on what they’ve read, or write a book report or paper. Sometimes a teacher gets a little creative and throws in a movie tie-in, lets the…
Why is Self-Directed Learning a Difficult Concept to Grasp?
I’ve been thinking more and more lately why the concept of self-directed learning is so hard for many people to grasp and why five (or sadly, three) is the magical age when humans need to sit down and listen in order to learn things. Up until then little children observe, communicate, participate and contribute to…
5 Websites to Help You Better Explore Your Interests
So let’s say your daughter loves cooking. Lately she’s into making all chocolate desserts. Maybe she watches some YouTube videos or experiments on her own with some cooking books from the library. You find out there’s a local chocolate factory that gives tours. While she’s at the factory, she asks lots of questions. The tour…
The Death of Traditonal Teaching Part 2
Last Saturday, I wrote a post about the death of traditional teaching. To any teacher reading who thinks I don’t respect what you do, I was a teacher by profession, too. I worked hard at my job and wanted the kids to learn, too. It was only as I began to truly focus on the…
The Death of Traditional Teaching Part 1
I went back to get my Masters in Education about ten years ago. I had been through a string of jobs since graduating with a degree in film: day camp counselor, bookkeeper, dental assistant, assistant manager at a bookstore and sales associate at a clothing store. After unsuccessfully pitching a few screenplays during a trip…