Thoughts on ways children learn

Another aspect my children enjoyed in our home school environment was their freedom of movement. I didn’t place controls on movement behaviors. When my child had a say in what he learned there wasn't resistance. They wanted to learn so whatever they engaged in during the read aloud time was self-regulated in order to hear me. Sometimes while I read, they built a Lego creation or a city of blocks sometimes they sat beside me and stared out the picture window at the beautiful garden. Either way, it didn’t matter that they moved around, they were getting every word as was demonstrated each time I closed a book and we held a discussion.

At six and seven, their listening attention spans were way off the charts. Did I mention we didn’t have a television? Well actually what we had, was a television hooked up to a video player. The television didn’t get any reception. Amazing what happens to children when they don’t watch movies by that well-known purveyor of children’s/adult shows and view instead controlled content like Nova. Our two saw their first mass distribution children’s/adult show at age seven and ten. When they stayed with friends, television provided little entertainment; they gathered their friends to play outside, summer or winter, even in temperatures below zero.

I grew up in a similar manner since television/electronic media had not yet taken over our lives. Do you remember building snow forts or tree forts? We probably learned a lot about cooperation and leadership never mind application of imagination. Do you see children running in the woods without a parent nearby? Do you trust your children to be alone with nature?