"Children do not need to be made to learn about the world, or shown how. They want to, and they know how." -John Holt
Determined to get out of the house, the children and I embarked on a sledding adventure! Forget that Caden needs constant supervision and forget that 2/3's of our sleds were missing ropes and cracked. Forget I am only one pair of hands competing against 3 sets of hands, feet, heads and bodies. Forget I'm dealing with heat and sun-sensitive children on a blinding snowy day and forget that sometimes 3 year olds dressed in a dozen bulky layers still have to pee again after you made them go at home. Forget all that and focus on the FUN!
Stay focused. Look deeper. The fun is in there somewhere...
I swear...
And don't look at him. He's clearly not focusing on fun.
And don't look at her. She's just busy rockin' out her dragon hat and sunglasses combo.
That's right. Focus on what's at hand...
Snow. Beautiful, bountiful, dirty snow. Eat it and be merry.
And wait, right there! Do you see it? Fun, with a trace of
joy!!
A successful sledding trip on all counts... Phew. I was getting worried there for a minute.
"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
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