A Little History Love and Creative Learning #29

Welcome back to another week of Creative Learning. I began teaching a class titled "18th Century Life and People" for our homeschool co op today. I have 9 second and third graders and I can tell already that we are going to have a blast.

I began class by asking each student what they like to study the most and then explained that when you study history, you study about everything. I could see little light bulbs of understanding turning on in their minds as we talked. We also did a Venn Diagram of life then and life now to show that people now are similar to people then, yet some of our resources make our lives seem different. 

I will come back later and share some of my ideas on helping kids love history later.  Now it is your opportunity to share with us. What creative learning have you had this week?

Sesquehanna Waldorf School Winter Festival

Today is a snowy cold day in central Pennsylvania, so in an effort to remind us of the joys of the season, I thought I would share photos from our nearest Waldorf school's winter festival held several weeks ago.



Ever wonder what a Waldorf school playground looks like?

 

Each grade decorates its own nature table.

 

A scene from The Elves and the Shoemaker.

All of the children were mesmerized and so was I.

The kindergarten room

 

Lovely isn't it?

Love

 

Live, teach, believe in Love.

National Parks Fee Free Day

                         

  

Just wanted to let you all know that National Park Service entrance fees are waived for Martin Luther King Day, Monday, January 20. So head out and enjoy some amazing historical or natural resources.

Learning through Play and Creative Learning #28

I really enjoy watching my 5 year old son play. He is learning so much simply by using his imagination and the questions he asks as he plays.

Lincoln Logs and Peg People make for great storytelling in which he learns

character development, and that each story has a beginning, middle, and end.

 

Board games help him learn strategy and counting skills.

This game has numbered squares so each time he rolls

the dice, he practices his addition skills.

 

What little child doesn't love a box they can fit in? Here Shane is making

his space ship. As he talks about his adventures, he asks questions about

space such as, "How many planets are there?" or "Why do we float in space?"

Creative Learning #27

It snowed again this morning.  While the boys play outside this afternoon, I am going to head over to Pinterest in search of winter learning activities since we have exhausted the ones I have found so far. Do you have any?  Or do you have a favorite pin on Pinterest? Feel free to share them at this weeks Creative Learning linky party. (Don't forget to follow me on Pinterest to see some great learning and craft ideas. Just click on the P on the sidebar.)



Plans Change and Contemplating Art

As we were on our way to Oklahoma last week, our plans changed and we had to turn around and come back to frigid Pennsylvania. Our plans of delightful southern hospitality will wait until next month.

Yesterday, after a couple of days being couped up with only little freezing bursts of outside time, I had to get out of the house. So out we went on a field trip to the Reading Public Museum where there is everything from an Egyptian mummy to a stuffed bobcat to modern art. (And for one more week, an excellent exhibit on the Boy Scouts.)

I let my boys explore, as long as we were in the same room. (I worked hard when they were little at being consistent in teaching them appropriate museum behavior, so now I generally don't have to worry about them in such settings - thankfully.) They each stopped at artwork and just stared, so I let them be. Sometimes we all just need to simply be left to contemplate, dream, and wonder, right?

Happy New Year & Creative Learning #26

Happy New Year!

 

I hope you all are getting your new year off to a great start. I am on furlough for the next two months and look forward to time to catch up on little projects that build up through the year.  One of the great things about homeschooling is that we can just take off (well, when the finances allow) so the boys, myself and my mother are planning a road trip to visit family in Oklahoma. I look at is a one long field trip with some great creative learning opportunities, including visits to The Great Smoky Mountains and The Trail of Tears.

 

 What about you? Do you have any creative learning ideas on your agenda?



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