thanks for the memories

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Elementary Education


When we decided to home school I was of the typical mindset that education meant sitting at a desk and working at workbooks and worksheets.  After 20 some years of educating my children, reading about education, and going back to school myself my ideas have evolved a great deal.
I have come to believe that ever second of our lives is an opportunity for learning if we only make a conscious effort to realize what may be learned.  With that philosophy in mind Layn and I began formally engineering his seconds into learning opportunities.  

This little gem is something that I ordered from a former occupational therapist.  Like any little boy Layn immediately took to the two pegs that involved screwing the shapes on and off.  But after some coaching he soon got the hang of how to take the shapes off the pegs.  He even came up with a unique way to put them back on again.  For the time being I think our focus will be learning to stay on task, finishing one peg before moving onto the next one.


Later we took out the box with Mr. Potato head and his parts.  I discovered that just because Layn could identify the parts of his face didn't mean he could translate those parts onto another being.  We had fun putting Mr. Potato Head's face together in the right configuration.  This will be one that we will be coming back to over and over again because it was so much fun.

This activity doesn't seem to have any educational purpose on first sight but the fun that we all had is certainly good for both Layn and all the grown-ups around him.  I found it on Pinterest and boy will we be doing this over and over.  MK took all his little creatures out of his toy box and I froze them into a big hunk of ice.  

Grandpa turned it out of the container, his daddy gave him a screwdriver and a hammer and Layn went to town "excavating" for dinosaurs.


He spent the better part of two hours hammering and chipping away at that block of ice in order to free those plastic critters from their icy prison.  Plenty of cheering and encouragement went into his efforts and in the end Layn was one very proud boy when he gave "Marya" his container full of freed creatures.

2 comments:

Meghann said...

I was of the same mind when we started homeschooling, but have let the kids lead the way and their voracity for learning is far better than anything I could put on a worksheet. Layn looks like he's thoroughly enjoying "school."

Amelia said...

Those are great ideas Ann. Fantastic!

Michelle is going to try those with her two little toddler boys she nannies. Soooooo great. : )

Layn is a very blessed little angel to have such sweet grandparents.