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

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

A Birthday Surprise

The 14th we had a mini-party for Gabriel so we could give him our gifts without overwhelming him on his big party day. Saving the best for last, we had him close his eyes...







and Rich presented him with his much slaved over giant wooden castle.
15 hours, 120 screws, 90 pegs and 15 board feet later, voila!

Simone was content with her ladybug cupcake she picked out for the celebration.

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"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