But I need to start at the end of the day to explain it.
My husband comes home from work to S greeting him at the door, telling him to ask me what we did today because we "only did art!" At lunchtime, S had come to me with a sly smile, saying "Do you know Mom, today all we did was art!" (We are starting with art instead of Maths, trying to start on a creative, inspiring note)
I replied with my own sly smile. The boys had watched Kangaroo Dundee while eating breakfast which led to online research about marsupials and the map of Australia. Then I had an idea about an art picture they could do with a kangaroo, which of course they didn't do but it led to their own ideas. Which they did while I was reading "Fudge-mania" by Judy Blume. For two hours. Then while we were tidying up I asked them their spelling words. So today we actually did Biology, Geography, Reading, Art and Spelling.
But we only did Art today.
Yay!
And I learnt something today too, other than a possum is a marsupial. A lady on the TJEd facebook group said this:
I like to compare this style of learning to a child learning to talk - you don't schedule it, you don't force it, you allow it to come naturally because they hear you and others communicating and they want to join in, they have something to say... Or teaching them to walk; you don't sit a bunch of kids down in a classroom and say we are all going to take our first steps today, 'left, right, left right left'. THAT would be ridiculous and it would backfire - they would see walking as a drill, as work, and they would be scared if they got it wrong instead of just looking at walking as a way to get from one place to another. So, you hold their hands as they eagerly try to take their steps... And if you put something in front of a toddler that they want, you can barely hold them back from learning to walk to get it.
Wow. What a powerful analogy.
The ladies on that group are so wise and generous with their encouragement and wisdom.
Day done!
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