John Holt says that  "Children are by nature and from birth very curious about the world around them, and very energetic, resourceful, and competent in exploring it, finding out about it, and mastering it.  In short, much more eager to learn, and much better at learning than most of us adults." *

I am continually amazed by how much my children learn on their own, without any adult interference.  (The fact that I am amazed would point to the truth that we adults are programmed not to trust our kids and their natural instinct to learn.)   Here are some fun examples of what they have been up to this week; they needed no encouragement or direction from me:

Maddie(5) and Max(3) found some addition and subtraction flashcards lying around and Maddie asked Max to quiz her.  I came upon them with Maddie sitting on a kitchen chair, Max standing on another one asking her:  "What's fouw plus thwee?" , she would give the answer and he would say "cowect."   When Maddie was stumped by one of the flashcards she didn't ask me for help; she told Max to hang on while she went and got the cuisenaire rods, and then she figured it out herself. 

We love the storytelling CDs by Jim Weiss.  Who knew that these would encourage narration skills?  Luke narrated The Bremen Town musicians to me in his excitement to tell me about this funny story the morning after he had listened to it at bedtime.  The kids are even learning new vocabulary from listening to these.    Last night, after we'd tucked in the kids and were sitting in the living room, Max came in and asked dh and I what a word meant.  We couldn't quite make out what word he was saying so I went with him to his room where he had paused the CD and he played it over for me.  The word was "shelter".  Delphinium  the donkey had said he was looking for food and shelter, and Max wanted to know what shelter was.  So we talked about how shelter is a house to us, but to someone else it might be a hut made out of banana leaves or for an animal it might be a space underground or in a tree.   Delphinium just wanted to find a place to stay warm and dry.  Max was satisfied and went back to bed and finished listening to his stories, but I thought it was great that a 3 year old seeks out information all on his own because he's naturally curious! 

Unschoolers often say that when a person is interested and self motivated, they learn a lot faster; as opposed to learning on someone else's timetable about something they're not interested in at the time.  I have observed this with our kids.  We have several Mother Goose books and have used a curriculum in the past that encouraged reading these nursery rhymes periodically for years, I'm assuming in the hopes of the child memorizing them for cultural literacy.   On a trip to  half -price books Maddie picked out a Mother Goose book and cd and I remember thinking "Another Mother Goose book?  We already have those and read those at home."  But it was her pick, so I didn't say that aloud and we bought it.  Her and her brothers loved this CD and would turn it on in her room while they played for days after she got it.   Before I knew it, they had memorized most of the rhymes and poems on it and could recite them.  So much for needing to repeat something for years: when they were interested they learned it quickly with no help needed.   Maddie also enjoyed listening to it and reading along in the book, and I think it helped her with reading proficiency.

Yesterday Max wanted to know how paper was made.  I don't know what made him think of this but he asked so dh remembered that we had a How It's Made episode that Papa had burned on dvd for us (our kids really like this show), on how they make toilet paper, so we put it in and  Max sat with rapt attention.  When it was over a commerical came on and Max said "We don't  need your junk!"  which made us laugh- do you think he has heard some rants about commercialism?

Having an older sibling really impacts the younger kids.  They think anything Zach(13) does is cool, so his interests often become their interests.  Luke (7) was playing with the Playmobil Roman colliseum we have the other day, telling me a bit about Ancient Roman history that his brother had told him while they were playing with it previously.

Luke is on a kick about the solar system and has all the planets and their order memorized.  I am embarrassed to say that I was never that interested in this, (at least in the way I was taught it in school), and had forgotten the order.  Luke has been helping me remember though.  :D   He is also interested in cooking and got the Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook for Christmas so him and I went to the grocery store and got the ingredients and made something he had picked out.  He made it mostly himself and figured out how to triple the recipe with a little help.  (I told him to multiply by three, he figured out the answers himself).

There is a school where a group of kids learned 6 years of math in 20 contact hours.  Here is the article:

http://www.mountainlaurelsudbury.org/Rithmetic.asp

Here is a fun website with ideas for games and picture books for math:

www.livingmath.net

In my experience, the biggest thing you can do for your children is to read aloud to them and provide a literature rich environment.  Read something aloud everyday, let them see you reading frequently, take them to the library and bookstores frequently, get them fun magazine subscriptions, and buy audio books or get them from the library.  A lot of things will take off from there.  Strew fun and enriching things around: maps, books, music, board games, manipulatives, art supplies, scissors and paper, open-ended toys for imaginative play, computer games, things to smell, touch, and taste, art prints, and anything else that seems fun.  We have a big plastic box full of rice and beans that the kids play with with sieves and containers and spoons, little chalkboards and chalk, dry erase boards, playstands, blocks, legos, a sandbox, and so on, and have found them all to be valuable for playing and learning.  A cardboard box to pretend in or cotton balls to make a collage with can be exciting too.   All things can be educational, and there is value to be found in all things that kids find joy in. 

*From Teach Your Own by John Holt