Learning through living

This post from one of my favourite homeschooling blogs really resonated with me. I’m new to homeschooling, having been an educator for everyone else’s kids for almost 15 years. This is a very new and fascinating journey, but I find I am constantly doubting myself. And I have a masters in education!! I also find myself loving those special ‘teachable’ moments because I am sharing them with my son. I also share his awe and wonder, and love to live anew through him.

The Jibbers ‘writing’ his observations from his bug experiment.

The Jibbers wanted to know more about hammerhead sharks, so we pulled out a volume from the encyclopedia set that I had as a child. Then he wanted to know how cars don’t roll off the trucks that carry them, so we took his toy truck and piled on some hot wheels in various scenarios. He wanted to see if even baby cacti have ‘sharpies’ and so I let him touch them and then removed the ‘sharpies’ with tweezers. He wanted to cook, so we looked up a recipe, checked and measured our ingredients, and he stood on his step stool – in his fireman hat that also doubles as a splash-guard – and cooked up some awesome omelettes. He wanted to know what the big letters on the page said in his book, so I told him the letter then we drew it with his finger on a blank page in the book. He wanted five cookies, so he learned to count so that he would be sure that he got exactly five cookies, no less.

While he may not be as ‘advanced’ as his preschool-going peers at this stage, it is my hope that his natural interest and curiosity will be something that becomes his passion and life-long motivation to learn. I love that life is incorporated into learning. I believe with firm – and daily renewed – conviction that this is the best way to learn whether it be in a school or at home.