···Mama Scribble···: inspired {home} school

The question I get most about homeschooling my daughters (ages 7, 5 & 3) is: 'Do you follow a curriculum?' The simple answer is, no.

What? Why not?

Did you follow a curriculum when you taught your child to speak or take their first steps? They still learned from you, right?

But Education is different. Teachers are to do this, not the parent(s).

Of course it is. We learn best when we love what we're doing. We learn best when there is a passionate interest in what is being 'taught' to us. Whether you are 6, 16, 26 or 60 years old, ideas, information and learning 'sticks' when you're 'wanting' to learn about it. Period. Your parents (or whomever has cared for you) are your first and most important teachers. Now be under no illusion, my parents did not give me the best examples both educationally nor morally but that's a whole other story in and of itself. Let's stick to my experience with my own children. (smile)

There are many reasons as to why I choose to not follow this or that curriculum but all in all, the biggest reason is because my husband and I try to foster more of an inspired home school atmosphere.

What does that mean?

P·L·A·Y

We incorporate a whole lot of 'play' here in this home. It's a well known fact that children learn best through play so that that's what we do. Play, play, play... There are moments of focused attention to something that sparks an interest like my eldest telling her dad the other day 'Daddy, did you know that I tasted my blood and it taste's like metal?' So naturally, my husband took that opportunity to explain to her the reasons behind the little 'fact' she knew about her blood. She was fascinated by what she had 'discovered' and that same day we went to the library and checked out a book about iron. The interest came from her and it happened to be a perfect learning tool as well.

My girls are always inventing something or imagining this or that. I watch and listen and answer questions 'when I'm asked' or otherwise I correct something like, 'mama, is it true that your skin turns to grass when you die?'

Our eldest is less than three months from turning 8 and she's been expressing more interest in knowing 'how' or 'why' things work. We're glad that she's curious and we do our best to provide her with the proper tools and guidance to understand whatever she's inquiring. Overall, we try to have fun!

Here's a fun clip of what I'm talking about (somewhat):

Elmo and the girls (Voice by me. Shaky video by Sabrina)

We visited the Children's Museum the other day. It was fun and of course, the girls didn't want to leave even after we had gone all around the museum twice. Oy...

Here's a collection of small (literally) shots of 'learning' while playing... Enjoy!