"Children do not need to be made to learn about the world, or shown how. They want to, and they know how." -John Holt
Little did I know that 30 minutes away from us lies the not-so-infamous American Stonehenge. Most likely the oldest man-made construction in the United States (over 4000 years!), nobody knows for sure who built it exactly... The place consists of a maze of man-made chambers, walls and ceremonial meeting places that unbeknownst to us, were roped off and displayed "Do Not Climb" signs. Fun! (I believe a not-so-friendly email is in order!) 
Fortunately, a broken chain in the viewing trail led us straight to some of the caves and passageways anyways and the kids enjoyed a few minutes of exploring.
A trip to the gift shop for gigantic stuffed snakes (see left) made up for the disappointing exhibit.
Afterwards we headed to a playground/park in Windham (highly recommended) where the kids had a blast running around a pond and playing on the equipment. Caden slept blissfully in the stroller for most of it...
(*Note to Unschoolers: I'll stop stealing your pictures and collages when my camera comes in next week!)
"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
A trip to the gift shop for gigantic stuffed snakes (see left) made up for the disappointing exhibit.
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