Joyful Learner

06/01/2022

"This is the story of colonization. Everywhere Europeans went, they found people who placed art, community, relationships, and play at the center of their lives rather than work. Instead of learning from them, we labeled them as backwards and lazy and sought to correct these flaws. In many ways, this is exactly what we do today with childhood, colonizing it with our grim story about work. We tell them, meanly, that school is their job, that learning is a matter of toil, that they can only play when they have done their work. But as we all know, the work is never done. For most children, when we open the door to school, we close the window of play, allowing it to only re-open again decades later, at life's sunset, the only time when it is acceptable to do "nothing" with our lives."

Last night I spend the evening at a Memorial Day barbeque in the company of several people I had never met before. We asked ...

05/22/2022

For those with older kids, this is an interesting and thought-provoking article on how to support adolescents.

"This is about the way all of us, at any age, try to fit ourselves to the worlds we discover inside of us and around us. We discover deep wells of purpose, desire, trauma, sensitivity, and curiosity. We navigate the complex worlds of people and money. We experiment with daily rhythms and ways of being. Life design is how we try to reconcile all these forces. It’s how an introverted kid starts to figure out how much social interaction she really wants, and when to say no. It’s how a kid who spends every off-hour watching YouTube clips about Greek mythology discovers that his curiosity has opened a door. We’re all designing and re-designing our lives, all the time.

"It’s a central effort in our lives, and adolescents are the authors of their own story. But our choices as parents and educators will make their efforts easier or harder. I’d like to suggest that there are three ingredients we should make available to them, to facilitate this process of life design."

https://chrisbalme.substack.com/p/how-to-design-a-life?r=1ieo5&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&fbclid=IwAR2VdVw2cWF3G5zSUQpxUa4ybbgHa2PhVnG7DtX46NHk5e6OLEq4zMVlhq8

With a dash of trust

03/12/2022

“It’s a big, complex question, the matter of how we educate our children, and I imagine it feels overwhelming from the inside. I am not an expert. I’m just a parent and a lover of words and stories who feels deeply sad at all the unnecessary stress and missed opportunities and the avalanche of mental health problems in children and their parents and teachers. The bold thing would be to take a blank sheet of paper and start again. Could we not do that? Could we not ask how we want to educate our children, all of them, with creativity and joy?“

New research shows kids don’t learn creatively under a Kafkaesque grammar system

02/23/2022

"In trading away our young children’s down time we’re also seeing significantly lower levels of creativity in young adults. It’s not the organized activities themselves that destroy creativity but the lack of down time. Even two hours per week of unstructured play can boost children’s creativity to above-average levels.

"With kids being carted from one activity to the next, the days of kids being kids and playing all day long has been erased from our society’s collective memory. We’ve devalued what children need most and replaced it with excessive adult control."

Our kids' schedules are busier than ever! But they need downtime. Let's protect our children's mental health today by simplifying childhood today.

12/12/2021

This isn’t as directly related to learning, in a traditional academic sense, but also an important thing for kids (and parents!) to practice.

10/18/2021

Useful graphic, especially given the stressors of the past year and a half.

This is so helpful to keep in mind, and is often true in adults, as well.

09/22/2021

Helpful reminder, especially since 2020 and 2021 have been particularly anxiety-provoking years for both children and adults.

12/16/2020

Stay present to the magic of the moment.

“A four-year-old will be a four-year-old only once. Concentrate on meeting his present needs. Don't foist future academics on him. If he's allowed to truly play now — spontaneous play with room for running, leaping, ka-powing, crying, dancing, painting, spilling and creative problem-solving, then he will be ready for academics later. When children gain social and emotional skills and confidence in the preschool years, academic learning naturally follows."
—Heather Shumake

03/20/2020

Free audio books from Audible, for as long as the schools are closed:

Free stories for kids of all ages. Audible Stories is a free website where kids of all ages can listen to hundreds of Audible audio titles across six different languages—English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Japanese—for free, so they can keep learning, dreaming and just being kids.

03/20/2020

Fun craft ideas for kids!

The best retro crafts for kids that are still super cool. Old-fashioned fun is great for kids addicted to screens. Try out these 12 how-tos and get crafting

03/19/2020

The fourth of four videos on homeschooling in the pandemic. I hope they are helpful for people; please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

This is my first time making a video like this, so apologies for any issues.

Note: while I am no longer trying to create an educational consulting practice, I’m posting using this page because it makes it easier to share and access. I will also be adding more content about homeschooling and free resources to this page to make it more up to date, so it may be useful for people.

03/19/2020

The third of four videos on homeschooling in the pandemic. I hope they are helpful for people; please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

This is my first time making a video like this, so apologies for any issues.

Note: while I am no longer trying to create an educational consulting practice, I’m posting using this page because it makes it easier to share and access. I will also be adding more content about homeschooling and free resources to this page to make it more up to date, so it may be useful for people.