Follow Your Nose to Knowledge

Before we read, I need you to watch this:

BreakWomb: Bad Parent

Anyway....

In mainstream school there are so many time constraints and schedules that more often than not, an enjoyable subject is ended and another subject taken up before a student is ready to move on. This morning Kiddo wanted some coloring sheets (and of course they were superheroes because the world doesn't turn without superheroes), so we made a game. He has to write out a superhero's name, and if I can read it, I'll print out a coloring sheet.  This went on for nearly six hours.  Yeah, that's not a joke.  My hyper, over-the-top-with-excess-energy kiddo spent almost six hours writing and coloring.  Homeschool or not, figure out what your kid is into; It will save you.
  

If we want to play in the yard all
afternoon, we do.  

I think the constant bells and schedules are also damaging to the desire to get answers. I realized I need to encourage questions more, but also, finding more answers.  This proves to be difficult when so. many. questions. come while doing 60 mph on the interstate. I have resolved to keep a record of questions to make sure we can come back to and address each one. For example: Why is water blue? or better What kind of bugs are in compost?  Yep, write 'em down and look 'em up! The Kid is so excited and enthusiastic and curious.  I want to nourish this, not squash it. I have spent this month reprogramming myself to enjoy and address the awesome nature of questions rather than be overwhelmed and frustrated by them (And to all those who notice I am exhausted when the kids are having free play time, THIS IS WHY). 

We learned all about SC turtles
after meeting this wee one.

The super cool thing is that it is wearing off on me.  It turns out, I am developing my own desire to find things out. Did you know Carpenter Bees don't drill holes deep enough to structurally damage wood?  Or that the males that can hover in the air can't sting? How about that turtles go from being omnivores to herbivores with age?  Yeah, it's true.  

Learning in a tree

Learning to climb that tree

I'm nervous when I stop and think about how nontraditional this learning style is. I worry that everything won't be covered on our adventures or that something important might fall through the cracks. I worry that people will hold me to a different (and much more stringent) standard for my kindergartner simply because we homeschool and that doesn't jive with their world perspective.   

However, I have to have confidence in our choices.  I like the World Book's typical course of study. For preschool, we went down the list and checked off everything The Kid already new.  Then I came up with ways to learn everything else on the list.  The list is hanging on our bulletin board. So when we are having a lazy day where learning is slow going or maybe it's raining outside, to the list we go.  So much of the list is learned before we even get to it because we learn it through other activities; for example: learning animal environments.  We could watch a youtube clip about different animals and do a worksheet OR we could go outside and look in the trees and look in the compost* and look in the marsh and look at the beach and, well, you get my point.  We cover so much in exploration and conversation that sitting down and hammering out worksheets is rarely necessary.  

What questions does your kid come up with?
What obsessions lead your learning?


*This kid is, no joke, obsessed with compost bugs; Ants, worms, centipedes, roaches, fruit flies, you name it.