Take a little child to a multicultural festival and she is immersed in new sounds, sights and flavors. Hang a map on the wall and watch your children start pointing out different countries and asking lots of questions. Give an older child an atlas or map while taking a trip and see his joy at…
Tag: exploring the world
Unstructured Play & The Structured Child
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…
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…
An Untraditional Unit Study
When I was first introduced to the concept of unit studies, it really appealed to me. Even as a public school teacher I could never understand spending 45 minutes reading a book, then the next 45 minutes learning history totally unrelated to the literature we’d just read. Then it was crazy to be whisked off…
8 Ways to Provide an Interest-Led Learning Home
Respect your child’s interests. It seems pretty obvious, but what happens when our children’s interests don’t interest us? Or, even worse, what if those interests even seem a bit silly or strange? First, they don’t seem that way to your child. You don’t need to like everything your children do, but you do need to…
Instead of Preschool: Why We Opted Out Part 2
Last week I started a post on why parents choose to place their children in preschool. I’ve written about the first two most popular reasons: a place for children to learn socialization, and a way to get used to school rules and procedures. Today I’ll discuss two more popular reasons young children are placed in…
A Daily Dose of Adventure
Did you wake up today knowing you were going to go somewhere different, see something new, or do something that you’ve never done before? Or did you follow your same routine, talking to the same people, doing the same work, and reading the same things? Now, I’m a firm believer that you can’t get through…
The Power of the Mini Adventure
Many people live a standard, routine life. They pretty much know when they’ll get up, what they’ll be doing every day, and about what time they’ll go to sleep each night. Once in a while they’ll celebrate a holiday or birthday, or plan for a week trip, but otherwise their lives are familiar, predictable, and…
The Vacation of a Lifetime
Summer vacation. When you were younger it meant a time to relax, play, swim, dig in the dirt, hang with friends, stay up late reading all night, and eating popsicles until your stomach hurt. If you grew up going to school, odds are when you heard that last school bell ring at the end of…