learning in pictures
by Mama/Writer/Educator
on a quiet country lane near Aydon, sheep bleating in the field beside us, England
A day at Corbridge Roman Town, excavated in the last hundred years, having fallen into disuse 1600 or so years ago, provided possibilities to develop each of our “learning tools”.
After wandering around the site listening to the audio-tour, reading the signboards, exploring the ruins, conversing together, wondering and exclaiming, we moved in to the onsite museum, where there were more artefacts to discover and a wonderful children’s play area. The smallest two employed three-dimensional reasoning skills to piece together a large model house, and then all engaged in battle out on the grass with swords and shields and bows and arrows (leather tipped, of course, for safety), Tgirl5 being declared the decisive victor! In the afternoon, while the little girls napped in the Bear Cave, I read aloud the Roman Soldier’s Handbook to middle-sized children, who simultaneously coloured provided sheets with lovely pencils and put together the selection of many-piece wooden puzzles, before they went off to journal around the site.
As for our learning tools…..well, we have a wee diagram of a ladder leaning against a tree with roots, trunk and fruit-bearing branches to depict our educational philosophy. The learning tools make up the trunk, and are as follows:
OK, so Tgirl5 is not curious about anything – she’s simply falling through the granary floor, but Kgirl10 is most inquisitive!
He wanted a castle cake – and we managed to create one!
As well as reading, listening and discussing, everyone got out their journals and recorded impressions, thoughts, observations. Those who could, tried out a bit of Latin translation, too. Others recited the alphabet!
Opportunities aplenty to practise reasoning skills.
Just like there’s a discernible difference between a wholewheat organic homebaked loaf of bread and a fluffy white mass-produced slice, tasting the Great and Grand in literature and art will hopefully give our children an appetite that will tend to bypass junkfoody trashy recreation in favour of the more wholesome
(too many analogies in that sentence?)
some of the building blocks
Did we set out to “do” all our learning tools today? No, I did not even give them a thought until I saw the picture of Kgirl10 having a Really Good Look under the floor. In retrospect, I could see that we had “covered them all” – but for us it was Just Another Day, not unlike any other.
Time on the road: need to check Jboy13’s record!
Distance covered: 22km
Tags: 2008/09, book, children, craft, history, language, learning, parenting, postcard: England
rayres
Again, thanks for sharing this. I always enjoy how you articulate how your family IS and DOES.
Thanks I found todays post really inspiring as I go about homeschooling my two boys through everyday living and not in a classroom at home atmosphere. We have just finished reading Little House on the Prairie together and will start today on to the thrid book On the Banks of Plum Creek. Time I think to orgainise another trip to the art gallery.
I really appreciated this post – thank you for saying it so clearly and the reminder about foundations and the ‘important stuff’ of raising kids. 🙂 It’s holidays and its winter … I really enjoyed the post! It motivates me to get the camera out and put some inspiring pictures around me.
*insert what sharon said here*
and happy birthday Kboy12!!!