"Children do not need to be made to learn about the world, or shown how. They want to, and they know how." -John Holt

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Building a Womery

Can't take any credit for this idea... The kids were watching Noggin and in between shows, a couple of British kids instructed us on how to create our very own composting wormery. We may have been swayed by their alluring accents but before I knew it we were off to Wal-Mart for a couple of 3 litre bottles since I couldn't come up with a creative alternative to house the wriggly guys.


We went way out back and dug for a good supply of fat, juicy worms and rich, dark soil so we could begin the layering process. First the dirt, a bit of water, a layer of sand, then vegetable and fruit peelings and then starting over with dirt again. The worms we piled on last and watched them dig their way quickly into the dirt to escape the sun.


Simone is rather fond of her lot and is here to remind everyone that we'll be returning them to their homes when we're done with them so that "they won't get dead".
With any luck we'll keep that promise!

3 comments:

Finn said...

That looks like fun! Might be a good weekend project.

Kay Ely said...

I happened on your blog by googling this very project. My kids saw the same thing and did exactly the same thing as your kids did. Too wild. I'm inspired to know there are others out there unschooling. Some days I think my kids are the only ones building wormeries instead of learning to count by 5's.

Jessica said...

Funny that happened since I spelled "wormery" wrong in the title! Ironic you guys are Unschoolers as well! I couldn't find you on Blogger to respond to you all and I don't think this'll reach you but thanks for stopping by! (Believe me, we are years away from counting by fives. ;)

"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