Feb. 8, 2008 - Learning for the Sake of Learning
Ariella loved going to school. Kaylah saw Ariella's enthusiasm and was all set to have a fun year of Pre-K at her big sister's school. Why did Ariella love school? When asked, she replies that she liked recess and she liked seeing her friends everyday. Isn't school about learning? Of course she likes seeing her friends everyday--she's a social butterfly and enjoys hanging out with them. But couldn't she still see her friends at Brownies, story hours, bowling, and playdates? I think she can learn three times as much and retain the information if she wasn't so worried about Susy saying that Sally was her best friend today instead of Ariella because Sally brought a Barbie to school. Or that she didn't have a chance to study (or rather cram) for her spelling test and now she won't get a 100%.
I can't have an intelligent conversation about the American Revolution or anything really that happened in history. History was always very boring to me and I can't say I know much about it. It's no wonder why, I think I only learned history textbook-style. I can see when I start reading something to Ariella that has dry, textbook like feeling to it, she get preoccupied with playing and my own eyes become heavy. But there are some books (I've come to see them coined as Living Books) that make history come alive (hence the name).
We've read living books about the Underground Railroad, various stories about slaves, lives of American colonists and pilgrims, the times leading up to and about the American Revolution, and so many other interesting reads. Not just about history either. Both Ariella and Kaylah will come out with things that I know they learned from these books that we read together. I'm learning so much too. Ariella has actually done library searches to find more books of these mentioned topics. I wonder if she would have done the same had she been required to read a textbook chapter on the same information. I doubt it.
In school, children are required to know what the teacher wants them to know-- what she/he says or what is written in the books that are provided by the school. Rarely are they able to learn what interests them at any given time. I want my children to want to learn. I want them to learn in an environment where they feel free to ask questions when the questions come up. How many times have I raised my hand in school with a question, only to have to wait until the teacher's done talking? By then I usually forgot what I was asking. Or if I did ask, I was taking the risk that it was a "dumb question" (although there's no such thing as a dumb question...yada, yada, yada)..."dumb" in the eyes of my critics...my classmates that is.I want my kids to learn for the sake of learning and not for the sake of something that they need to know for the test.
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