Starting last year I began what i hope will be a tradition of asking the kids ‘What do you want to learn this year?’ It gets their creative juices flowing with anticipation and helps me get a window into what things their little minds are pondering that I don’t know about. We don’t necessarily cover everything they tell me about and I very likely have things planned that they don’t know they will be interested in but I love getting their input just the same. This year I’m particularly intrigued by the ‘themes’ I see emerging in each kids lists as it shows a bit of how their minds work and from what angle they view the world. I’m excited that this year much more than last year their reading skills have a really firm foundation so many of the things I see they are interested in but may not hit the actual curriculum schedule can be explored through some good reading books being available. Without further ado here are the words of my kids when asked- ‘What do you want to learn this year?’
(please excuse any grammatical and particularly punctuational errors, I was trying to notate their words as they spoke to me)
Elias- Frogs and lizards, castles and knights and horses- just a whole bunch of stuff about castles and horses and that kind of stuff. Dinosaurs, cowboys and indians and snakes- how ’bout more about bugs? Cows and whales and seahorses and dolphins. Can we learn about noodles? Squirrels and chipmunks, rabbits and movies and race cars. How to make glass and how to row a rowboat and how to make a mirror. I want to learn how to cook fish and crabs and also learn about crabs and monkeys and gorillas and parrots.
Hannah- I want to learn about countries. I want to learn about how hair changes color. I want to know about how skin changes with age, like how it gets all wrinkly. I want to learn how to sew bigger things and how your body makes your eye color. I want to know about candles, how to make soap and how to play the violin. I want to learn how to make dye and how people make shoes. I want to learn about how petals on a flower are made and how a flower knows it’s winter and closes up. I want to know how the piano makes different sounds and what is the smallest bone in a guinea pigs body.
They both just ran to me and asked I add that they want to know about puffins too.
Happy School year everyone! May your curiosity find many fruitful paths to explore!
Sarah
Lol! Last year when you did this, Alex was still gone… and I never got to it. But I put it on the calendar for tomorrow this morning… only to see this post this afternoon. I love your kids. They are amazing little learning machines!
Val