Learning Begins at Home

I have always loved to write.  I began writing song lyrics and poetry in middle school.  I had an incredible grammar teacher that taught me every single mistake NOT to make and I was a natural speller.  I have always made lists and tried new things and I have done not a great job at recording those things on paper.  I love to read and love fiction and always thought that if I ever wrote ANYTHING professionally, it would be a fictional story.  I tried journalism in high school and have always enjoyed the accomplishment of researching and putting together the finished product of a large paper or project for everyone to read.  I never worked well with a group that had to write a collaborative paper because I struggle to silence my voice in my writing.  I had a blog years ago and have always had support with my writing from friends and family members near and far.  I also had a poem published in the local newspaper as well as the national Who's Who of high school students at the age of 14. I have a zillion journals and I am gifted at storytelling and keeping a listener engaged, or so I have been told.  One thing I am NOT good at, is following through on my many writing ideas.  I have started several books and even had a friend helping me with editing and somewhere in the process I get too wrapped up in other things and I lose the confidence I start with in the beginning of the process.

I am finally ready to develop these ideas and stick with it to see them through.  I am actually working on a book topic right now that is full of all of the types of things we have done over the years to help encourage in our children a love for learning.  We value experiences as education in our home and it is something we have always valued and acted upon with our children.  I often hear from others that I am "so creative" and "such an active Mom" and while I take those as huge compliments, they are things that come naturally to me so I don't always see them as gifts.  I just think up something and do it.  Like many others, I too struggle to accept a compliment and think there is nothing special about me.  It has been a recent realization to me though that some things that come naturally to me, do not necessarily come "naturally" to other people and that it might actually be beneficial for me to, AHEM, "write things down!"  

Even though I don't always feel comfortable accepting a compliment or realizing my gifts and talents, the thought of keeping record of some of the experiences I have planned for our children in their growing up, in order to help other parents support their own child's education, is something I can totally get behind!

I have started a collection of experiences and activities that have shaped my children's upbringing thus far and I am going to begin sharing them with others.  I am writing a book ya'll!

The photo I have included is an example of one of our favorite activities which is part science experiment and part travel experience.  I am going to show you an example of how the book is planned to be laid out in an effort to get feedback from you and continue to develop this idea.  This is a sample of one of the activities that would be featured in the chapter about "Activities for School-Aged Children and Beyond"

"Blind Taste Test"  

Try a brand new fruit or vegetable

The Experience:  This experience involves multiple fun steps beginning with a visit to the local grocery store or farmer's market.  This is an exploration of the scientific method, uses observation skills and wraps it all up with research and taste testing.  You truly get to use all of your five senses while learning more about another location.  You start by walking through the grocery store with the kiddos and choosing a fruit or vegetable that is brand new to your family (or at least to them).    When you get it home, lay it in the middle of the table and use all of your senses to come up with some conclusions.  If your kids aren't old enough to do the writing, you take over as the "recorder" of the bunch.  Write down everything you observe about this piece of produce.  Begin with the item uncut and unpeeled and just write the observations.  What does it feel like?  What does it smell like?  Is it heavy or light?  Is this a peel or part of the fruit/veg that we eat?  Does it grow in the ground?  On a tree?  Where in the world is this thing from anyway?  Can we plant one here?  When you are complete with writing down all the observations you can make just from looking and touching it, cut it in half.  Make new observations about how it looks and smells.  Do you see any seeds inside?  Does seeing it on the inside change anything about your initial observations?

Encourage them to use all of their senses here including the sense of taste.  Do you think it is a fruit or a vegetable?  Make sure you write everything down and taste, touch, smash and smell this item and make your conclusions about what it might be.  Write down the names that you guess it may be called.  Try not to lead the kids in doing this, or try to pick a fruit or vegetable that you too haven't had much experience with in the past.  It makes it more fun if you can truly find something exotic.

The final part of this project is to use the internet to find the proper information about what this is, where it grows and what it can be used for or in.  Remember the internet is the LAST piece of the puzzle.

What do you need?  

- Unidentified fruit or vegetable

- Blank paper and pencil for recording observations

- knife and cutting board for parent to cut open the fruit or vegetable

- phone or computer for final research

What are you teaching them?

This project is all about the scientific method.  You are making a prediction or hypothesis about this item.  You are using observation skills and all of your senses to make a determination about this item.  Another thing you are doing is trying something NEW.

All of this part of the project will lead you to the part of the project where you identify exactly what you have before you by using all of these skills AND your ability to research on the internet.

The project can be over once you identify your fruit or vegetable BUT can be taken a step further with the older children and you can truly explore more about the environment in which is grows and use this as a way to "travel" the world by figuring out more about how the people who grow it can use it.

My kids love the part where we cut it and really dig into what we think it might be.  All parts of the project can be made less or more based on how you lead your kids and the ages that you are working with too.  This can take you an entire afternoon if you plan it out right and will be super fun for the kids as an exploration into the unknown.  I highly recommend the... 

Again, this is meant to be an excerpt of the kinds of things you will find within the pages of my book about how learning truly begins at home.  I welcome any and all feedback about this idea and the sample of projects that you can try in your own home.  Each project will feature the three categories we have here; The Experience, What do you need? and What are you teaching them.  Most of the projects will include photographs as well.  I will post more when I narrow down my exact chapters/themes but you can expect a chapter all about our Homemade Advent Countdown and our Summer Bucket List too!