In my journey as a home-school Mother, I have learned so much about my children, how they learn, and what method seems to impact their lives the most. I have also read countless books and articles on homeschooling. In both my own experience and through the wisdom of others, I truly feel that the most beneficial way to homeschool is through creating a "learning lifestyle".
What exactly is a learning lifestyle? It is living our lives in such a way that learning is not confined to a book or a curriculum, but instead the whole world is our classroom. It is making practical, every day tasks lessons for my children.
Everywhere I go and everything I do is a teachable moment for my children (and often times, for myself) as I go about the life that God has given me.
Though I understand this concept in my mind and I recognize it immediately when it is happening, it is still hard for me to grasp at times how to make it happen on an on-going basis.
During the school months, I feel under more pressure to "perform", more pressure to make sure the boys hit the books and cover the subjects that are required. However, when Summer comes, alot of that pressure melts away and we are free to live the learning lifestyle more completely! It is a wonderful time to be carried away by our interests at the pace that we choose ourselves!
Most families try to make Summer a fun time so there are trips planned, vacations, and even "stay-cations" and all of these include the opportunity to live the learning lifestyle. For example, the 1st thing we planned to do this Summer was hike up Stone Mountain. Now we have done this in the past but that time we merely hiked straight up and then actually rode the lift back down! No exploring, no conversing about what we were seeing, etc...
Today, however, was a different adventure altogether! As we traveled to Stone Mtn. I challenged the kids to make it their goal to find at least 10 interesting things as we hiked that we could look at & discuss. In my mind I was thinking I would be happy with 5 or so, but I didn't tell them this. I wanted them to be on the look-out for things that interested THEM and then I could give information to help them or at least I could show interest as well and we could admire the handy-work of our Creator!
To my surprise, they eagerly took the challenge and not only did they find 10 things, but as we drove back home, they rattled off 13 things that they thought were really neat! Here is our list:
~ Flowers & Cactus at the base of the mtn.
~ Flag display
~ Gumpole (pole covered in thousands of pieces of gum!)
~ Old chimney and fire pit we found to the side of the mtn.
~ Blackberries growing on the mtn.!
~ Heart shaped rock.
~ Carvings in the rock.
~ Yellow striping that goes along the path - similar to highway striping.
~ Rock "caves".
~ Interesting insect we found.
~ Chains and equipment attached to the top of the rock.
~ Interesting bird that we kept spotting.
~ Tree roots shaped in odd ways growing in the rock.
We had alot of lively discussion as we hiked up and down focusing on all of these different things and the hows and whys of their being on the Mtn. I think we learned alot in the area of History, Geology, Human behavior, and Natural Plant & Animal life. It was a really fun time!
We also learned that it is a 1.3 mile hike up the mountain (2.6 round-trip!)and that Stone Mountain is 825 feet above ground and 1,683 feet above sea level! We found this out by going up to the kind, older security guard and asking him a couple of questions, which he happily answered and even wrote down things for us!
All around us there is so much to learn and oftentimes there are people who will willingly share their knowledge with us if we are truly interested and take the time to ask. Developing the habit of questioning and seeking answers is the 1st step to a lifestyle of learning! I hope that YOU and YOUR FAMILY will take some time this Summer to explore and learn together. At the least, you will make wonderful memories, and you may learn some really neat things in the process!
