When real life interrupts school, shift and think of real life as school! This paradigm shift has been 2 years in the making for this type-A, list making homeschooler! To help, read Peter Gray’s 5-point definition of play. This is from his book, Free to Learn.
Carpe Diem
This has been my motto since high school, to make the most of opportunities. All the extracurriculars of “real life?” That’s an amazing education right there.
Next week, we have (all on different days):
- a field trip to the planetarium
- a ranger-led program to explore vernal pools at a state park
- historic mill open house to see how it works
- a naturalist-led library program about owls
- so we’re finally going to dissect those owl pellets we found last month
For sure I’m nixing the book work and seizing every day! I prefer “real life” to “school at home.”
Sickness
But…what about when real life looks like a sick-in-bed Mom? Or anxiety crops up for one child out of nowhere?
I’ve been there.
It’s been my last three weeks. (My sickness only for one)
Here’s what I did.
Let the kids play. Let them self direct. At the end of the day, I wrote down my observations, just to prove to myself that learning happened. I split this into categories only for easier reading:
Life Skills:
- The twins made breakfast one morning.
- We acted out a story and made borscht for dinner together.
- We made Fry Bread.
Hands-on:
- All four sanded and painted their pinewood derby cars.
- Twin 1 began a new cross stitch project.
- Twin 2 designed cards for a made-up card game.
- Then Twin 1 started to make a projector from a science maker book.
- Twin 2 created a musical instrument from recycled materials.
- We planted Venus Flytrap seeds from a kit.
- Twin 2 started a cardboard robotic hand project.
Uncategorized Play:
- The twins played Prodigy on the computer.
- We went on a nature walk to celebrate spring.
- All four played favorite board games.
- They played with Legos and other toys.
- They made up their own rules for Small World (board game).
- All of them played outside.
- I played Seven Wonders Duel (board game) with one.
- The younger two did puzzles.
- The twins read books and reread favorite books.
How I got Started
Back in September, we started “project day Wednesdays” and set aside every 4th week as “project week.” They did not know what to do with themselves at first. They were so used to being told what to do that, aside from playing with toys and Lego, they couldn’t think of ideas. I made many suggestions those first few months.
So if you’re new to self-directed learning, let me encourage you to give it some time. Help them out and present ideas. Their own ideas will eventually come and then they’ll be asking you to print out sheet music or pulling all the recycling out of the bin to create something.
There will be mess.
There will be noise.
And there will be joy.
You’ll be forever looking for your paper cutter and glue gun!