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,…
Tag: natural learning
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…
If Skills & Subjects Are Different, Why Do Schools Treat Them the Same?
There’s a big difference between history and math, and it’s not just a difference between stories and numbers. There’s also a big difference between reading and science or geography. Reading and math are skills. Think of them as analogous to learning to talk or how to ride a bike. Almost all kids learn how to…
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…
Why Lesson Plans Don’t Work Part 2
When I wrote last week about why lesson plans don’t work, I realized this position would be a bit controversial since almost all schools, including many homeschooling families, rely on lesson plans. But I feel it’s important to get the message out that most learning doesn’t need to be strictly pre-planned; in fact, in most…
Questions: The Heart of Self-Directed Learning
Why do that man’s eyes look funny? How will my cut heal? Will she be dressed up like a mummy (my daughter asked before attending her first funeral). Most of the time I welcome and enjoy my children’s questions. Sometimes, though, after they’ve asked questions almost nonstop for an hour, I’m left feeling a little…
Learning All the Time
I recently watched a commercial that really disturbed me. In the commercial, a woman appeared on the screen and started talking about “early childhood education.” The image shifted to scenes of small children sitting at tables doing worksheets and then crowding together on a carpet waving their hands in the air. The woman’s voice narrated…
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…
From TMNT to Sushi
My son has a passion for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. If you ask him which one is his favorite, he’ll say, “All of them.” He looks forward to the Saturday morning cartoon, watched all the movies and, of course, was Michelangelo for Halloween. Many parents might see this passion as “cute” or “nice” or “fun,”…