I couldn’t help but think about the question, “What comes first, the chicken or the egg?” when thinking about our educational adventures last week. Of course in this situation it was, “What comes first – activity or content?” My usual educational mode is to read, read, read about a subject and then incorporate hands-on activity […]
Power of Play
Mapping the Mayflower
Since we have been exploring world geography for the last several months, we decided to pull out our Global Twister map and chart the path the Mayflower took. There is something magical about getting to ‘experience’ that trip for themselves. As they grabbed their walnut Mayflower ships, we talked about how the pilgrims left England […]
Down Time
This last week, my family escaped up north and spent lovely relaxing week away from our cell phones and computers. I don’t watch TV (except for an occasional movie), but I’m pretty addicted to my phone and my computer, so this was a much needed break. It was fun to actually be outside A.L.L. D.A.Y. L.O.N.G!!!!! […]
Mission-Minded, Part 4
Lover of Learning As I look over all three goals for my family (1-being lovers of God, 2-lovers of others and 3-lovers of learning) it is hard to separate where one stops and the others start. Really, #2 and #3 are just natural outpourings of #1. If we truly love God, the natural result is going to […]
The Creativity Crisis
An interesting article came out last week in Newsweek magazine titled, The Creativity Crisis. It talks about how research is showing a very significant decrease in creativity in Americans – most notably those in K-6th grade. As I gear up for our workshop on cultivating curiosity this weekend, I’m struck by the interplay between curiosity and […]
For the Children’s Sake and other reads…
For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay After a friend had mentioned reading this book, I scanned my mom’s bookshelf and found her well-worn copy that she bought back in the mid 1980’s. The cover art is obviously different from the new edition, pictured here, but I didn’t want to scare anyone away from […]