Learning Together, by Tanya Higgins
From Tanya Higgins . . .
We are in a stressful time in our lives right now. Worrying about education, staying on a timeline for success, the mental health of our family, and so much more. I have heard many things about the need to keep our kids up to date with their education so they do not fall behind. But what does this really mean? Is the best thing to just do all our schoolwork just like before the pandemic? Is that working for you? What about time to process the feelings that come with coronavirus?
We have always homeschooled and learning with the coronavirus in the usual way is not working for us. Instead, we are finding ourselves exploring topics when they come up and going from subject to subject as they come up. We are writing more, reading more, praying more, walking more, observing more, watching movies more. But we are doing less of other things like math worksheets, language arts worksheets, science reading.
Is this a bad thing? NO!!
Unstructured learning is awesome and productive and helps the brain develop. Kids thrive it this type of learning environment. And Unstructured learning doesn’t mean that your day is unstructured. There should still be structure, just not as much structured learning. This is a great time for a different learning than you find in a traditional school. And it gives you more time to process the craziness going on around you.
So -- learning together is such an amazing experience. There are so many ways to do this – reading books, finding websites, watching documentaries, watching films, playing games, exploring the world. We are a little hobbled right now because so many things are closed. My family planned to attend two Shakespeare plays that were cancelled. We are so bummed. But we will survive. Below are some topics to explore together and some ideas on how to do that.
Topics for learning together:
Games – teaches math, critical thinking skills, problem solving, working together.
Art – Pick an artist and start to look at their art online. Find a movie about them. Read their Biography. Imitate their art. Libraries are closed but book stores might have some art books. Discovering Great Artists by Maryann Kohl is great, as well as Tell Me a Picture by Quentin Blake.
Music – pick a composer (Beethoven, Bach, Gershwin, Tchaikovsky, Stan Getz, Louis Armstrong…) Listen to their work. Read a biography. Watch a movie. Fantasia is awesome for this. We studied Tocata and Fugue in d minor and it was awesome. We played it every day until the kids really knew it. Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture used real cannons and it is so fun to see all the youtube videos of this. George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue is so beautiful.
History – pick an event in history and really explore it. You can go big – World War II, the Holocaust, Slavery, Prohibition. You can stay small – the Hiddenburg (we just did this for 20 minutes), Charles Lindberg, Joan of Arc, Henry VIII…. There are a lot of great Ken Burns documentaries.
Nature – go and explore the world. Research what you observe. Write a report. Draw a picture. Talk about it. Green lake, Discovery park, Carkeek park… Go on a hike and write down your observations. Watch the documentary “Earth”.
Science – do experiments together. Baking soda and vinegar, making slime… https://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/kids-science-experiments-that-adults-can-enjoy-too
Watch “Cosmos” with Neil Degrasse Tyson together.
Poetry – memorize poems together. Small ones, long ones, funny ones, serious ones. Write poetry, read poetry, find out about the poets. Draw scenes from poetry.
In introducing a subject, we begin with pictures. we then read a bit about the subject. We listen to music. We draw. Don’t be afraid to wander and move from thing to thing.
Remember to use many forms for learning – the computer, books, hands on work, physical play, audio, discussion. And you don’t have to stay on a topic long to learn something.
Just have fun!!
We are in a stressful time in our lives right now. Worrying about education, staying on a timeline for success, the mental health of our family, and so much more. I have heard many things about the need to keep our kids up to date with their education so they do not fall behind. But what does this really mean? Is the best thing to just do all our schoolwork just like before the pandemic? Is that working for you? What about time to process the feelings that come with coronavirus?
We have always homeschooled and learning with the coronavirus in the usual way is not working for us. Instead, we are finding ourselves exploring topics when they come up and going from subject to subject as they come up. We are writing more, reading more, praying more, walking more, observing more, watching movies more. But we are doing less of other things like math worksheets, language arts worksheets, science reading.
Is this a bad thing? NO!!
Unstructured learning is awesome and productive and helps the brain develop. Kids thrive it this type of learning environment. And Unstructured learning doesn’t mean that your day is unstructured. There should still be structure, just not as much structured learning. This is a great time for a different learning than you find in a traditional school. And it gives you more time to process the craziness going on around you.
So -- learning together is such an amazing experience. There are so many ways to do this – reading books, finding websites, watching documentaries, watching films, playing games, exploring the world. We are a little hobbled right now because so many things are closed. My family planned to attend two Shakespeare plays that were cancelled. We are so bummed. But we will survive. Below are some topics to explore together and some ideas on how to do that.
Topics for learning together:
Games – teaches math, critical thinking skills, problem solving, working together.
Art – Pick an artist and start to look at their art online. Find a movie about them. Read their Biography. Imitate their art. Libraries are closed but book stores might have some art books. Discovering Great Artists by Maryann Kohl is great, as well as Tell Me a Picture by Quentin Blake.
Music – pick a composer (Beethoven, Bach, Gershwin, Tchaikovsky, Stan Getz, Louis Armstrong…) Listen to their work. Read a biography. Watch a movie. Fantasia is awesome for this. We studied Tocata and Fugue in d minor and it was awesome. We played it every day until the kids really knew it. Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture used real cannons and it is so fun to see all the youtube videos of this. George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue is so beautiful.
History – pick an event in history and really explore it. You can go big – World War II, the Holocaust, Slavery, Prohibition. You can stay small – the Hiddenburg (we just did this for 20 minutes), Charles Lindberg, Joan of Arc, Henry VIII…. There are a lot of great Ken Burns documentaries.
Nature – go and explore the world. Research what you observe. Write a report. Draw a picture. Talk about it. Green lake, Discovery park, Carkeek park… Go on a hike and write down your observations. Watch the documentary “Earth”.
Science – do experiments together. Baking soda and vinegar, making slime… https://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/kids-science-experiments-that-adults-can-enjoy-too
Watch “Cosmos” with Neil Degrasse Tyson together.
Poetry – memorize poems together. Small ones, long ones, funny ones, serious ones. Write poetry, read poetry, find out about the poets. Draw scenes from poetry.
In introducing a subject, we begin with pictures. we then read a bit about the subject. We listen to music. We draw. Don’t be afraid to wander and move from thing to thing.
Remember to use many forms for learning – the computer, books, hands on work, physical play, audio, discussion. And you don’t have to stay on a topic long to learn something.
Just have fun!!
Comments
Post a Comment