Rocky Vacation Learning and What I Discovered Along the Way…

Remember when I wrote about how my lesson plans were hijacked by curious kids?  We had so much fun that day exploring rocks which served to whet their appetite for our trip up north.  Or so I thought.

Have any of you ever experienced a sense of defeat or let-down when life {and learning} doesn’t go quite like we had dreamed it would?  I had all these grand plans of the fun we’d have and the books we’d read while on vacation.  {ok, ok, I know many of you are rolling your eyes…} Payson was indeed an amazing place for budding rockhounds.  The boys loved collecting rocks while we were out exploring.

In my mind, I imagined that we’d traipse back to the cabin and sprawl on the floor pouring over rock books and identifying our treasures.  Naturally, this experience would elicit further curiosity that would then open up amazing opportunities to read about rocks in depth.  At this point, they’d go back outside with paper and pencil and meticulously label all of their rocks and astound me with the implementation of their new-found knowledge.

Yes, that is how it played out in my mind.

Our daydreams don’t always mirror reality.  In this case, mine didn’t.  And initially, it frustrated me.  For some reason, these three boys of mine did NOT want to sprawl on the floor pouring over books when there was the great outdoors to be conquered and games of chess and cards to be played.

Our rock walks were amazing.  The boys collected quite the stash.  Geodes were EVERYWHERE!  Keegan declared that the bench out front was our rock museum and they proceeded to sort and wash their rocks.  But the books…  They weren’t interested.  Dreams derailed…

As I thought about it, I realized yet again that I need to hold expectations lightly.  I learned two things about my family and how this adventure of learning tends to play out for us.

• Vacation is not a time to have an acquisition of knowledge – at least not intentionally from me.
• It can be a beautiful time of solidification of previously acquired knowledge through play and free exploration.
• It can spark curiosity and a desire to learn more… But they may or may not want to follow up with that in a formal matter.

I learned that when I get frustrated, it’s important to step back for a little perspective.  Once I did this, I recognized the value in their explorations.  I appreciated the fun we had when we did spend an afternoon sorting out our rocks and trying to classify them in various ways.

I smiled at the memory of the boys checking to see how rock’s ‘cleaved’, as they smashed rocks with a hammer.

I remember the look of awe as they performed the acid/base test and watched for reactions of vinegar with various rocks.

And I realized that it was a really fruitful trip.  I just need to remember to hold my expectations loosely.