Homeschool Mami's World

One of my favorite parts of homeschooling is the ability to talk to my children throughout the day. Our conversations cover wide-ranging topics: music, art, theology, science, family dynamics, world poverty, ecology, pop culture, materialism, or whatever they are currently reading. If we were to suddenly stop homeschooling I think what I would miss most is knowing what is going on in the hearts and minds of my children on a real time basis.

Piaget is one of the most influential educational psychologists of the 20th century. Time's 100 Most Influential 20th Century People describes him like this:

"He has been revered by generations of teachers inspired by the belief that children are not empty vessels to be filled with knowledge (as traditional pedagogical theory had it) but active builders of knowledge — little scientists who are constantly creating and testing their own theories of the world."

He called the structures these "active builders" made schemata. They are often compared to ladders of knowledge on which you hang new information. I prefer to think of schemata as a spider web. As you spin your new ideas into your existing body of knowlege you need to find connecting points on the web. The more knowledge you have, the more complex the web structure becomes. Each web is beautiful and practical and yet utterly unique.

One of the joys of being my kids' primary teacher is that I can help them make connections and that I can also point them to new and interesting things to learn that connect to what they already know. As we read books we always have a globe nearby to look up the place that we are reading about and to remember other interesting facts about that region of the world. When reading Heidi, we look up Switzerland, and find the Alps, and feel the raised topographical surface of the globe and discuss that one of our favorite movies, the Sound of Music also takes place near the Alps, although in Austria, and then we find Austria on the globe...and so it goes.

This is not only instructive for the kids, but keeps my mind sharp and the conversations we share are as much fun for me as for them. And by sharing ideas we are buiilding webs of shared experiences and family memories which will sustain us long after story time is over.

Homeschool Mami