“Creativity is just having enough dots to connect… connect experiences and synthesize new things. The reason creative people are able to do that is that they’ve had more experiences or have thought more about their experiences than other people”. Steve Jobs, President, Apple Computers
“You may think that as you get older you gather more experiences. The reality is, most of us repeat the same experiences over and over again. Instead of 20 years of experiences, we’ve had the same one year of experience 20 times.
For children, everything is a new experience. As children we were passionate and creative; our minds filled with limitless possibilities and wonder. Numerous studies have shown that 98% of 5-year old children are highly creative, while only 2% of adults are. How did we go from being creative, passionate, playful children to adults filled with burden, rigidity and stress?
One obstacle is our diminished ability to be creative and to live creatively. A creative mind is a playful mind, one stirred by passion and probability rather than deterred by fear and obligation – a mind that can develop new ideas and bring those ideas to fruition. As children we view the world with fresh eyes. Children are not focused – they are collecting dots. New experiences. It all changes once we start going to school. We are taught to memorize and regurgitate facts; to generate particular outcomes. Peer pressure sets in and we all feel compelled to wear the same brand of sneakers. We stop thinking for ourselves. As we get older, we continue through life planning every step – and eliminate dots. We go to college, we choose a major, and eventually get the best job we can. What do we have left? One dot. We know that dot – our area of expertise – really well but we have nothing else to connect it to. Instead of collecting new experiences, we become focused on one area. We no longer try new things. We continually choose the same path and use the same approaches to living life, neglecting to check whether we are producing the results we really want.”
Stephen Shapiro – Goal Free Living.
Showing posts with label Homeschool musings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homeschool musings. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Natural learning & unit studies?
It seems like a bit of a contradiction, but sometimes it works for us.
Most of the time, Billy just seems to naturally flow from one aspect of learning to another. Sometimes though he seems to get 'stuck' and even though he's bored, he needs some help to move on. I've been seeing that lately - he'll complain about the computer game he's playing being "boring" but keep going back to it. I get the same - especially with the computer. I know when I start aimlessly surfing the net looking for new blogs to read, new yahoogroups to join, or when I check my mail or Facebook constantly, that its time for a kickstart. I'm not always able to do that though - I recognise the problem, but often it takes some external event (like being super busy) to drag me away and get me back to doing other things.
So I see my role as providing that external event for Billy. It's my job as facilitator to engage him in something new. I offer the opportunity, and he can decide how far he wants to take it.
On our hike last week, Billy had found and collected some bits of coal (which are now lying all over the loungeroom!), plus we noticed the layers in the rock cuttings we walked through. So I've gathered together some resources on rocks - I used Lesson Pathways for a starting point for some activities. Yesterday we read together "The Magic School Bus: Inside the Earth" - even though I have a list of other rock-related activities, I was quite prepared to leave it at that if he wanted. Instead he asked me eagerly "What else are we doing for Rock Week?" He's decided he likes having special weeks where we learn about a topic, and has looked through the book we have of History hands-on activities, and declared the next week to be Viking Week!
Disclaimer: If you think I'm breaking some "rule" of natural learning, then that's fine - I'll just fall back on my "eclectic" label :) We do what works for us.
Most of the time, Billy just seems to naturally flow from one aspect of learning to another. Sometimes though he seems to get 'stuck' and even though he's bored, he needs some help to move on. I've been seeing that lately - he'll complain about the computer game he's playing being "boring" but keep going back to it. I get the same - especially with the computer. I know when I start aimlessly surfing the net looking for new blogs to read, new yahoogroups to join, or when I check my mail or Facebook constantly, that its time for a kickstart. I'm not always able to do that though - I recognise the problem, but often it takes some external event (like being super busy) to drag me away and get me back to doing other things.
So I see my role as providing that external event for Billy. It's my job as facilitator to engage him in something new. I offer the opportunity, and he can decide how far he wants to take it.
On our hike last week, Billy had found and collected some bits of coal (which are now lying all over the loungeroom!), plus we noticed the layers in the rock cuttings we walked through. So I've gathered together some resources on rocks - I used Lesson Pathways for a starting point for some activities. Yesterday we read together "The Magic School Bus: Inside the Earth" - even though I have a list of other rock-related activities, I was quite prepared to leave it at that if he wanted. Instead he asked me eagerly "What else are we doing for Rock Week?" He's decided he likes having special weeks where we learn about a topic, and has looked through the book we have of History hands-on activities, and declared the next week to be Viking Week!
Disclaimer: If you think I'm breaking some "rule" of natural learning, then that's fine - I'll just fall back on my "eclectic" label :) We do what works for us.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
More musings...
Further to my post last night, I've been contemplating what Billy actually needs to learn in the next few years - let's say by the end of Yr 6. (He's "officially" in Yr 2 atm but he works at all different levels.) It seems hard to believe that not that long ago, many kids had left school by the end of primary school and were out working and learning a trade. In fact neither of my parents have much more than a primary school education.
I have no idea at this stage what job Billy will want to do. In fact, based on his love of technology, the job he ends up doing probably hasn't even been invented yet. So how do I know what he should learn? The Australian states can't even agree on what should be in the curriculum, let alone the rest of the world.
So after some contemplation, this is what I consider the "Must haves" in his education:
I'd love to hear your thoughts. What skills or knowledge do you consider as vital?
In fact, the more I think about it, the more I'm left wondering what the point of high school is (other than to keep kids out of the workforce and stop them competing with adults for jobs!). It's not really to specialise - when I went through school, you couldn't choose subjects until about Yr 11 - and that was if you were lucky enough that the subject you wanted was offered and fitted in with your timetable. That's why you go to uni - 6 years later! How much of what you learn at high school is actually used later on in life? I'm struggling to think of anything I learnt that is critical to my life now. Writing an essay on Shakespeare? Nope. Trigonometry? Nope. Pretty much everything I needed to do my job, I learnt on the job. High School seems a very broad brush approach - let's make everyone learn how to dissect a poem to cover the 1% that will actually use it! (And turn the other 99% off anything to do with poetry for the rest of their lives!)
Would we be better off going back to the days of early leaving and apprenticeships? Its not like today's youth appear to be any happier than previous generations!
Just some ramblings - what do you think?
I have no idea at this stage what job Billy will want to do. In fact, based on his love of technology, the job he ends up doing probably hasn't even been invented yet. So how do I know what he should learn? The Australian states can't even agree on what should be in the curriculum, let alone the rest of the world.
So after some contemplation, this is what I consider the "Must haves" in his education:
- "Consumer level" maths - budgeting, measuring / weighing, basic maths skills
- Understanding of the maths processes, not just rote learning
- Ability to read
- Ability to comprehend what is read
- Legible handwriting
- Computer skills - typing, word processing, email, web surfing, web searches - how to find & interpret information
- Life skills - looking after himself, household skills like washing, cooking, etc
- Understanding of significant events & people in Australian history
- Tolerance & appreciation of other cultures, religions & people
- Ability to speak in public
- Love of reading
- Not afraid of maths
- Understanding of significant events & people in World history
I'd love to hear your thoughts. What skills or knowledge do you consider as vital?
In fact, the more I think about it, the more I'm left wondering what the point of high school is (other than to keep kids out of the workforce and stop them competing with adults for jobs!). It's not really to specialise - when I went through school, you couldn't choose subjects until about Yr 11 - and that was if you were lucky enough that the subject you wanted was offered and fitted in with your timetable. That's why you go to uni - 6 years later! How much of what you learn at high school is actually used later on in life? I'm struggling to think of anything I learnt that is critical to my life now. Writing an essay on Shakespeare? Nope. Trigonometry? Nope. Pretty much everything I needed to do my job, I learnt on the job. High School seems a very broad brush approach - let's make everyone learn how to dissect a poem to cover the 1% that will actually use it! (And turn the other 99% off anything to do with poetry for the rest of their lives!)
Would we be better off going back to the days of early leaving and apprenticeships? Its not like today's youth appear to be any happier than previous generations!
Just some ramblings - what do you think?
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