Well, another child came down with the virus today. Thankfully, with herbs, prayer and lots of rest, viruses are very short-lived around here. Anyway, T was sick today, and he didn't feel like climbing the stairs to the learning loft. But he didn't want to miss out on today's read alouds (I'm telling you...they LOVE the books we read and don't even want to miss out when they are sick). So, we all moved downstairs so that we could be near him while we read.
Here's what little Miss did while I was reading. She loves pretending to cook and serve food.
After we read, D worked on math.
And HB began reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond (which, contrary to the title, is not about a witch). She learned that this is the only book which received a unanimous vote for the Newbery Medal on the first ballot. Just our kind of literature! Even on chapter one, she deemed it an amazing book.
Forgive the bad lighting, but you can get an idea of how the living room looked today...everyone doing their own thing downstairs in order to be close to their sick brother.
This afternoon, when the big kids were going about their business (sewing costumes and making forts), I walked into the kitchen to find this very captivating scene. My camera was nearby, so I grabbed it. I recognized this as organic learning in its purest form (because this child doesn't even know the meaning of the words organic learning, and she was busy demonstrating it out in real life). I LOVE THIS!
Let me back up and explain something about this child. She is 8 years old (but is the size of a 5-year-old). She has Down Syndrome. She has sensory processing issues. She is adopted. And she spent her first 3 years in a foster home and an orphanage. These factors have much to do with the way this little girl operates in her world. Take "school," for example. On her first day of "kindergarten," I sat her down to trace letters. Nope...wouldn't do it. I sat her down to repeat the sound "nnnnn" after me. Nope...wouldn't do it. I asked her to jump when we were playing outside. Nope...wouldn't do it. Get the picture? Well, before you jump to the conclusion that she is not obedient, let me explain. Simply put, she has issues that stem from orphanage life and abandonment. When she feels under pressure of any kind, she freezes. Yes, FREEZES! There's a whole psychological reason for this, but I won't bore you. Let's just say that it can be very interesting to deal with (imagine what it was like when I momentarily let go of her hand at the Christmas tree farm, sending her into stress mode, and she froze like a stone statue right there in the aisle between the trees!). SOOO, when I sit her down to "do lessons," she reacts by freezing in place, because it feels like pressure to her. She won't do anything, won't talk, won't even move much except to dart her eyes back and forth very quickly (again, stress). Soooo, I relaxed her education greatly. No more sit-down lessons (except to sit quietly and play or draw while I read to everyone), no more canned lessons of any kind. Instead of sitting down to practice the "nnnn" sound, we will instead just practice it in the course of daily life ("nnnnn....nnnnight, nnnnight"). And much of the time, she simply learns while she plays. Removing unnecessary pressure was key, and relaxing the approach to her education resulted in her blossoming beautifully.
So, this afternoon, I walked into the kitchen to find this set-up she had created on her own. Under the bench at the dining table, she had placed comfy pillows, her purse, her pretend cell phone and many different crayons lined up in an organized way.
Then I watched as she took crayons and matched them to corresponding colors on her placemat.
She was talking aloud as she went along. She'd say, "Idea!" (which is short for "I have a good idea I want to try out"). She then reached under the table, grabbed her red crayon, and placed it up to the red square on her placemat and said, "RED." This was all on her own, without a single suggestion from anyone. We have never played this game with her. We don't even use that placemat, except for her to place under her papers when she draws. In other words, this little activity was something she conjured up all by herself. This was a game to her, and she was very busy coming up with new ways to use her placemat.
I sat quietly behind her, simply watching this happen and letting my shutter click now and then. Here she grabbed a pretend can of sardines from her kitchen box and put it up to the placemat to match its shape. She ended up on oval. Yay.
Back under the table she went. This time she came out with an orange crayon.
Back to the placemat to find the corresponding color and announce, "ORANGE!"
During all this time, I didn't interfere. I simply watched, absolutely intrigued to see this unfolding without any help or suggestions from me. She grabbed this felt piece and said, "Mama, LOOOOOK!!!" She was so excited to see that it matched in BOTH color and shape. She attempted to say, "Square," but that one is quite difficult for her lips to form. Mama said it, and she tried to repeat. (Ahhhh, SO much more effective than making her sit down and do a speech lesson that is completely unrelated to what she is doing).
I'm so glad I had my camera close by to grab some photos of this today when it unfolded, because organic learning is often most evident in the unplanned moments like this one. Once you let go of some of the planning and teaching, you will be amazed at what children will do all on their own. I have found that in our experiences with organic learning, about 90% of the truly effective learning takes place while reading living books or by discovering or creating something on their own.
