Real Learning

It is easy to get really stuck in the traditional way of learning, but really I have been thinking that I love to spend time in the garden discovering all sorts of things about my plants and how they grow and by the ditch filled with snails, fish, algae, etc. But I would not be the least bit interested in learning about these from a book. Why should I force my kids to learn everything only from books? Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE books. Great books are a huge part of our curriculum. But we sometimes get so wrapped up trying to complete assignments in them, that we miss the joy of learning in real settings. I have learned alongside my kids this year lots about Botany and Marine Biology, but the only books we have read on the topics have been opened because we had a question born from the experience of observing them first hand. May more of our learning experiences follow this idea every day!