Learning is most optimal when it occurs in an integrated fashion. I know a lot of people are participating in the HEAR Geography Fair this week. The effort that leads up to a final product like this is naturally integrative in nature. If your kids are working on a meaningful project, you don't have to set aside specific time periods in order to make sure each subject is completed. It just kind of happens!

I'm seeing the same result as I observe my children as they work on projects that they themselves have initiated. Today, Brayden and Annacie are working on a Nocilla family version of Monopoly. It has required planning, creativity, and cooperation. Writing is a huge part of it as they are creating the board and cards themselves. They're writing numbers, determining size and dimension, and will be using paper money to play, so they're doing Math. I'm guessing I could think of more if I tried but I assume you get the picture.

This is how children learn best. What they're doing is interesting and relevant to them. I'm here to make suggestions but the idea to do it was theirs. This fact alone makes it far more likely that it will actually be completed. We have enough incomplete school projects laying around on shelves as proof that the inverse is true. If it's Mommy initiated, their passion tends to fizzle out.

I remember a time before I had kids, wondering what they were going to look like, what their personalities would be like, and so on. I'm so thankful that homeschooling provides endless opportunities for me to embrace who they are, and to be here supporting their learning, each and every day.

 I wouldn't be happier if I was a queen in a palace, most days anyway. : ) 

Finding Your Rhythm

All of creation and nature function in rhythms that were set when the foundation of the universe was laid. From the rising and setting of the sun to changes of seasons, and the phases of the moon...all is in accordance with laws that were set before human eyes ever saw the light of day.

During the past almost ten years of being at home with children, I've seen similar rhythms within myself.

In the early morning I need solitude, while after that first cup of coffee, I'm bursting with ideas that demand to be written down. That's when my brain is at its highest level of alertness and when passion and enthusiasm reverberate throughout my being. After lunch when my littlest ones lay down for nap, I'm ready for quieter activities that require less thought, and so on.

Something that we as educators often fail to grasp is that our children have their own rhythms as well. There are times that they need to move and times when they're better at sitting still, parts of the day when they need to be loud and others when they prefer quiet, times when they're better at taking in new information, which necessitates another block to process what they've heard, and then another to do something productive or creative with the thoughts that are going through their minds.

Some might call the processing part daydreaming. It's actually a very healthy function of the brain that leads to the formulation of thoughts and productivity.

As we set up or children's schedules, routines, or whatever we choose to call it, it's important that we take into account their natural rhythms.

Can you imagine being at your height of creativity and having to stop and fold a load of laundry? Inversely, can you imagine being told during your most restful time of day that you need to go and write a funny story?

That's essentially what we're doing to our kids when we set up artificial schedules that don't take their individual rhythms into account. It might make us feel productive as we check off items on our "to do" lists but it does nothing to enable our children to fulfill their potential, academic or otherwise.

Adaptability is the key to success, in a classroom, home setting, career, or otherwise. As our children grow and change, so should our methods, as well as our schedules. I'm so thankful that homeschooling affords us the freedom to do just that as we see fit.