My children have been blessing me lately by extending their learning into their play time. I love when they do this, because I know that what they are learning excites them, and that it is meaningful to them.
Several weeks ago, 11 yo A decided to draw a human skeleton. She used one of our children's reference books about the human body and drew a skeleton. She didn't label it, but she worked hard on it and hung it in our eat-in kitchen which also serves as our school room.
Then last week, we were reading Roxaboxen for our Five In A Row, volume 4 summer school. It was supposed to just be the 3 girls (11 yo A, 10 yo R, and 8 yo C) but 6 yo J was also drawn into the story. He sat and listened to it with the girls. When the story was over, C and J hurriedly ran off to play Roxaboxen in the back yard. They imagined they were in Roxaboxen and were creating their own little Roxaboxen houses in our backyard. It put a smile on my face to hear them playing while I worked in the kitchen.
Last week, my children were thrilled to discover that a new season of Fetch! was on TV. (Fetch is a PBS TV show that gives the children on the show daily challenges to solve.) They sat down to watch the new episode, part of which included a discussion of what part of the human brain does what tasks. The next day, 10 yo R decided to draw the human brain, including labels of the sections of the brain and what tasks they do. She too used one of our children's reference books. I was proud of the time she put into her diagram.
But I was surprised the next day when R showed me that 8 yo C and 6 yo J had also made diagrams. C made a diagram of the human hearts, which R labeled for her. J made a diagram of the human tongue and what sections of the tongue taste which types of flavors, which R labeled for him. I don't know when they made their diagrams, or how I missed it. But now my kitchen school room has 4 lovely diagrams, drawn voluntarily by my children, hanging on the wall.
And they were having fun! I'm so glad my children enjoy learning, and that we homeschool!
Blessings,
April
