OK John has this old camera he uses for work that you have to whack to get it to work properly but I dragged it out just for the blog. How sad is that?
I have been torn about actually doing some formal pre-school work with Isabelle or just doing my usual random approach to homeschool which stresses my family out. Well today we were at Target and Isabelle pulls a bunch of bras off the rack while I am looking around. I tell her she has to put them back and as I watch her I remember why I have such a random approach to homeschool and why I love it so much. There we are with 3 different color bras on the floor of Target and it is an opportunity for her to learn to sort. She puts the first 2 in the right place and then mixes up the second two. So I ask her why she didn't match them and she tells me she wanted to mix them up. Of course since I am not fully committed to doing any homeschooling I decided to just accept this answer and move on. But it did get me thinking...
Then this afternoon I pull out the marble works and put it together and we watch the marbles drop through which Isabelle just loves. I bought this toy at a discovery toys party many years ago and felt it was a good learning toy. But I am wondering what in fact we are learning. How to watch mom decipher a picture and put a bunch of tubes together so that she can drop marbles through? I just don't think it is a 3year old learning toy. And since I have no mechanical aptitude and couldn't put the thing together without the pictures I am not sure it is a 37 year old toy either. I think I will stick with the Target learning experiences for now.
I was thinking the same thing about the motorized Jeep that the kids were riding around in the other day. They say it's for 2 and up, but I think it's a marketing scam because the older kids are the ones that can drive it really well. The 2 year old can't steer or drive it to save her life...
ReplyDeletei'm sure it feels great to be able to say "37 year old" for 10 more days...ha ha!
ReplyDeleteWho are these people that think pre-schoolers need a cirriculum?? None of my four have ever spent one moment in pre-school, nor have they had one moment of planned pre-school curriculum at home and so far they, in fact, can do more than drool and hold a pencil like a caveman...amazing! Beginning to learn in kindergarten actually does not produce stupified people..what a concept!
And I am intrigued by your Charlotte Mason references...you do know that the girls school was built on the Charlotte Mason ideaology don't you? It is the foundation of our schools approach to educating the whole child...thus the half days until 3rd grade.
and it works! who knew... :)