Loved this video about how gaming is in the future of job interviews. Thought you would enjoy it too.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
The Big List..Everyone Is Interested In Something
We keep a lot of lists here at Selfie School. Reading lists, Weekly Action Lists, Accomplishment Lists....but the BIG one..the list of all lists, is The Learning List. The Learning List is an idea sparked by a recent read of Hacking Your Education by Dale Stephens. Calling it a list is probably unfair to it's potential..it's actually more of an amoeba, I suppose, but "The Learning Amoeba" just didn't sound...well..yeah..you get me. The Learning List is an ever-growing, ever-changing list of everything the learner ever thought, hoped, or dreamed of learning. A comprehensive list of all of the knowledge that a learner wishes to accumulate with no time limits, no borders or boundaries. It grows through play, exposure and experience.
With all of the possibilites for that list flowing forth from the universe...my almost five year old's list contains the following words....
"BUILD THE END OF MINECRAFT"
This is a true test of my deep belief in self led learning. His list feeds right into the belief that left to their own devices, an unschooled child will play video games ALL DAY...until his head explodes.
He PLAYED, by God! He played with the depth of play with which world changers play. He had wooden toys for goodness sake, and lots of exposure to nature. He scooped acorns from bucket to bucket and his toys spoke Spanish to each other in random conversations. He expressed himself with complete sentences near his first birthday and he uses words in context after one exposure! How could his only hope and dream, from all the universe is spilling forth, be to BUILD THE END OF MINECRAFT????
I must honestly admit, the first week or so, I refused to put it on the list. I made many grand suggestions for his list, but he insisted..this was his one true goal in learning;The driving force of his almost five year old existance. So I reached a crossroads...either this self led learning thing works, or it doesn't:; And my belief that it works governs most every decision of my day. So I chose to act on my deep convictions and I made the "list".
Here is what happened....
He is learning how to communicate with his sister better to obtain her assistance with the XBOX. He is learning to share and how to manage his time. He is learning how to use Google and YouTube (with supervision, of course) to gather information. And most importantly to Mom, he is learning that in order to help yourself achieve your goals....even if those goals are to build the end of Minecraft...it's important to LEARN TO READ.
I STILL BELIEVE!
With all of the possibilites for that list flowing forth from the universe...my almost five year old's list contains the following words....
"BUILD THE END OF MINECRAFT"
This is a true test of my deep belief in self led learning. His list feeds right into the belief that left to their own devices, an unschooled child will play video games ALL DAY...until his head explodes.
He PLAYED, by God! He played with the depth of play with which world changers play. He had wooden toys for goodness sake, and lots of exposure to nature. He scooped acorns from bucket to bucket and his toys spoke Spanish to each other in random conversations. He expressed himself with complete sentences near his first birthday and he uses words in context after one exposure! How could his only hope and dream, from all the universe is spilling forth, be to BUILD THE END OF MINECRAFT????
I must honestly admit, the first week or so, I refused to put it on the list. I made many grand suggestions for his list, but he insisted..this was his one true goal in learning;The driving force of his almost five year old existance. So I reached a crossroads...either this self led learning thing works, or it doesn't:; And my belief that it works governs most every decision of my day. So I chose to act on my deep convictions and I made the "list".
Here is what happened....
He is learning how to communicate with his sister better to obtain her assistance with the XBOX. He is learning to share and how to manage his time. He is learning how to use Google and YouTube (with supervision, of course) to gather information. And most importantly to Mom, he is learning that in order to help yourself achieve your goals....even if those goals are to build the end of Minecraft...it's important to LEARN TO READ.
I STILL BELIEVE!
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Meet Silas. Silas plays.
Silas is the youngest learner here at Selfie School. Silas plays. This is his work. Since before he was crawling, I was preparing spaces for him to discover as he plays. One thing I strive for is to have everything within his reach be safe and available for him to explore. All of the lower cabinets in our home are places for discovery.
“Play Is The Work of the Child”
~Maria Montessori
Monday, January 6, 2014
DIY
Just looking at those letters DIY....begins the images whirling in my head of all the ideas I have pinned to my ever expanding Pinterest boards of things I one-day hope to create..in all of my spare time, of course! But DIY is really the underlying theme to our success in this self-led learning world that we are creating each day. Prepare yourself for what you are about to read. Are you ready? Are you sitting down? Are you prepared to change your life with four little words? Ok...here we go...MOM CAN'T DO EVERYTHING! And, if you do everything for them, you're cheating your children out of a sense of real accomplishment that will set the course for how they view learning for years to come. I deeply understand that sometimes it's easier to just do it your self, but investing the time to teach them to DIY will free you and ignite fires in your child's learning that will never burn out.
I'm going to start with food as an example, because somehow the theme keeps recurring around here several times a day. Here are some of my best ideas for DIY food for all ages.
1. Many four year old's will be able to help themselves to a drink. Prepare a small glass pitcher of water (or whatever your children drink) and place it in an area where they can reach it, with a glass and a stack of towels to clean up spills.
2. Our family prepares many of our meals together. We begin teaching our children to use the stove around age 8. Most children are tall enough to safely reach and use the stove by this age. With minimal culinary skills, a child can fry an egg. Busy times often call for egg sandwiches! Even a toddler can help out in the kitchen with a wavy knife. A pile of carrots and one of these cool tools empowers a toddler in the kitchen. You may also discover that your child is much more willing to try new foods that he or she helped to create.
3. Pinning!! Get your visual learner interested in pinning recipes and a meal planner will emerge! Set some guidelines that reflect your family's food choices and let them plan meals for the week, or for the month!
“The worst thing you can do for anyone you care about is anything that they can do on their own.”
― Abraham Lincoln
Mama Sanity Tip: They may not do it exactly like you would, but if it gets done, learn to be ok with it.
I'm going to start with food as an example, because somehow the theme keeps recurring around here several times a day. Here are some of my best ideas for DIY food for all ages.
1. Many four year old's will be able to help themselves to a drink. Prepare a small glass pitcher of water (or whatever your children drink) and place it in an area where they can reach it, with a glass and a stack of towels to clean up spills.2. Our family prepares many of our meals together. We begin teaching our children to use the stove around age 8. Most children are tall enough to safely reach and use the stove by this age. With minimal culinary skills, a child can fry an egg. Busy times often call for egg sandwiches! Even a toddler can help out in the kitchen with a wavy knife. A pile of carrots and one of these cool tools empowers a toddler in the kitchen. You may also discover that your child is much more willing to try new foods that he or she helped to create.
3. Pinning!! Get your visual learner interested in pinning recipes and a meal planner will emerge! Set some guidelines that reflect your family's food choices and let them plan meals for the week, or for the month!“The worst thing you can do for anyone you care about is anything that they can do on their own.”
― Abraham Lincoln
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
In The Beginning
In my 22 years of mothering, I've explored many, many styles of education. From Montessori to public school, Waldorf to deschooling...I've seen and experienced a lot of some and a little of each. Through a period of years of being unable to effectively communicate the answer to "What did you do in school today?" I have come do develop a language that,I believe, is unique to self led learning. What started out as a list of "what I don't want for my children's education" has grown into a passionate vision of the opportunities and experience that I want to lavish upon them during this short window,of time that they are entrusted to my care. I invite you to follow along with us, and have a peek inside of our world of self led learning."Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." ~William Butler Yeats
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