"Children do not need to be made to learn about the world, or shown how. They want to, and they know how." -John Holt
With the weather teasing us further and further outdoors, we've been enjoying daily hikes out back and across the stream looking for any signs of life. That would mean something really cool like a salamander, frogs or tadpoles at the very least, however the amphibians seem to know better and are staying tucked away during this temporary spring of ours.
This hasn't deterred the kids who tramp along with bug houses in hand hoping for a lucky break.
Caden has made his preferences known and will complain loudly if he's not let down to explore on his own. It's not always easy as the ground is so muddy and he's a big fan of taste testing anything he can grab. Here's hoping he'll be an early walker like Simone was...
Our most exicting discovery was first some deer tracks we spotted in a clump of snow. I really didn't think we had deer out here so I thought I was wrong about the tracks until a few feet away we found a fairly fresh pile of deer scat. Adventure abounds!
Who knew an acre or so of land could feel so big!?
"By nature people are learning animals. Birds fly; fish swim; humans think and learn. Therefore, we do not need to motivate children into learning by wheedling, bribing, or bullying. We do not need to keep picking away at their minds to make sure they are learning. What we need to do - and all we need to do - is to give children as much help and guidance as they need and ask for, listen respectfully when they feel like talking, and then get out of the way. We can trust them to do the rest."
John Holt
"In the end, the secret to learning is so simple: Think only about whatever you love. Follow it, do it, dream about it...and it will hit you: learning was there all the time, happening by itself." -Grace Llewellyn
"What we want to see is the child in pursuit of knowledge, not knowledge in pursuit of the child."
George Bernard Shaw
Real, natural learning is in the living. It's in the observing, the questioning, the examining, the pondering, the analyzing, the watching, the reading, the DO-ing, the living, the breathing, the loving, the JOY. It's in the joy. ~Anne Ohman
"How could youth better learn to live than by at once trying the experiment of living?" -Henry D. Thoreau
With the weather teasing us further and further outdoors, we've been enjoying daily hikes out back and across the stream looking for any signs of life. That would mean something really cool like a salamander, frogs or tadpoles at the very least, however the amphibians seem to know better and are staying tucked away during this temporary spring of ours.
Caden has made his preferences known and will complain loudly if he's not let down to explore on his own. It's not always easy as the ground is so muddy and he's a big fan of taste testing anything he can grab. Here's hoping he'll be an early walker like Simone was...
1 comment:
Fun! Hey, next weekend is Maple Sugar weekend. We went to a sugar shack this week in Derry- the kids would probably love it. Peterson's is in Derry- he does not have a website and it is very rustic. Folson's is fairly new (read clean) and in Chester- we are going to go there next week with the rest of the gang. Very interesting stuff! Link on my page!
Post a Comment