It's been kind of hard for me to talk about doing preschool with Jonas.
It's not a tidy pre-packaged unit.
It's not a "unit study".
Any structured, parent-led teaching has been mostly non-existent.
I've been prayerful because I haven't been able to either make something or to find something "made" that felt right for Jonas (I think there are great preschool units out there by the way, they just don't feel right for Jonas).
I started just doing whatever Jonas wanted to do for 30-60 minutes on weekdays during the babies' nap time in September based on its feeling right. And then I stumbled onto project-based learning book (real project-based learning, there are a lot of imitations masquerading as it online and in classrooms that are adult planned or created or initiated).
And is it powerful stuff! The potential for meta-learning (learning about learning) and developing passions and work ethic is incredible! It is child led and child directed with the parent acting as a facilitator.
I started just doing whatever Jonas wanted to do for 30-60 minutes on weekdays during the babies' nap time in September based on its feeling right. And then I stumbled onto project-based learning book (real project-based learning, there are a lot of imitations masquerading as it online and in classrooms that are adult planned or created or initiated).
And is it powerful stuff! The potential for meta-learning (learning about learning) and developing passions and work ethic is incredible! It is child led and child directed with the parent acting as a facilitator.
I've been taking baby steps. Trying to make myself wholly available to Jonas (at a supposed to be consistent time) everyday. Playing with new materials. Discussing what interests Jonas. Being careful not to make judgments or to correct mistakes. Reading books Jonas picks at the library. Documenting his learning with a pen and a camera. And now creating workspaces for Jonas where he has access to materials to help him think and learn and create and creating a workspace similarly for me so I can model that.
It's kind of unconventional. It's kind of messy and kind of inconsistent right now. And it's challenging my thinking and doing. There isn't a neat map to follow, or a full plan to make ahead and I don't get to play "teacher" either. It's a whole new learning process for me! It's baby steps now but they are in a direction we feel good about!
Jonas working on his steam train's couplers.
Playing with some new materials he discovered in the art bench.
Both space rovers. Interestingly the top one bears a lot of resemblance to the Curiosity and Sojourner, the rovers on Mars.
Jonas is so quick to pick up on details in pictures and on models and then to capture them and build on his own ideas. Also, he's a genius at capturing the essence of a machine in a block structure. Sometimes he can make such a simple, but recognizable vehicle that it is a study in elegant simplicity to me.
Space rovers are a fairly recent interest along with planets, satellites and robots.
I can't wait to show Jonas the new pictures Cassini has just sent to earth of Saturn and Titan.
Saturn is stunning!
The pride Jonas feels in his work is the best.
That is fascinating Royall! Interestingly, it is the direction I have been leaning with Eva as well without knowing it. I used to sit her down and follow the joy school lessons. Now I use their themes and a few ideas for fun activities but in a very unstructured unteacherish way and when the time in the day seems right for both of us. This idea of project based learning makes a lot of sense to me.
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