"Children today are cossetted and pressured in equal measure. Without the freedom to play they will never grow up." by Peter Grey

One of the very first home schooling conferences I attended had Peter Grey as a guest speaker. It was not the first I'd heard of these concepts, but it was the first I understood them fully.

I had major shifts in my thinking and trajectory with schooling my boys. I went from shoving facts and "teaching my baby to read" to going out an playing and letting them play freely - and NOT feel guilty about letting my boys really play, even if it meant that was how we spent the whole day. So even now with my boys - play was the most important thing we did today!

"The decline in opportunity to play has also been accompanied by a decline in empathy and a rise in narcissism, both of which have been assessed since the late 1970s with standard questionnaires given to normative samples of college students. Empathy refers to the ability and tendency to see from another person’s point of view and experience what that person experiences. Narcissism refers to inflated self-regard, coupled with a lack of concern for others and an inability to connect emotionally with others. A decline of empathy and a rise in narcissism are exactly what we would expect to see in children who have little opportunity to play socially. Children can’t learn these social skills and values in school, because school is an authoritarian, not a democratic setting. School fosters competition, not co-operation; and children there are not free to quit when others fail to respect their needs and wishes."

" Because students spend nearly all their time studying, they have little opportunity to be creative, take initiative, or develop physical and social skills: in short, they have little opportunity to play."

 "You can’t teach creativity; all you can do is let it blossom, and it blossoms in play"


Here are a few quotes. The whole article is here
http://www.aeonmagazine.com/being-human/children-today-are-suffering-a-severe-deficit-of-play/

Greater/Less Than - Domino

Continuing our Enki Curriculum math block and because I like more physical work, to balance the worksheets we worked this out. Dax wanted to do his own variation.

 Along with a fun train ride with the four processes - delivering and carrying loads as we used the concepts of plus, minus, multiply and divide.

OH HOW I LOVE ENKI!!

Maya the Apple Head Chihauhau

Today, during our afternoon adventure time, we met Maya Hokolele, a 2 pound Applehead Chihauhau and her human RoseAnn. Both lovely ladies. Dax spotted the little one a foot ball field off, took my hand and said "we need to go visit that cute little puppy".

Dax was certainly enthralled with Maya and Ryder spent ample time trying to convince me the merits of getting a dog, similar to Maya. We also got to know RoseAnn and come to find she was an artist and art teacher for nearly 25 years. She was on a journey of healing and the simplicity of how the afternoon unfolded was led by Grace.

While I shared my gift as healer, helping RoseAnn with PTSD through Ho'oponopono and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique, aka Tapping) Dax, the expressionist, was inspired to draw Maya and all of us.

It was a precious and enriching afternoon for each of us and as we know, synchronicity is splendid.

Wind, Wind, Wind the Bobbin

I remember doing this song with Ryder at library story time in Austin, TX. The story lady there was probably the best librarian story teller we've come across. She was made for story times. With the special shoes and puppets and so much fun. I wish I could recall her name. Anyway, I digress...

We sing the song and do the movements to this during our circle but today I thought to bring it to life for Dax as he wasn't willing to participate. In an impromptu craft I took a drum stick from Dad some red yarn and used the concept of making pom pom.

So now we have some practical to go along with our conceptual. Fun. And inspiration for holiday decorations perhaps.

Recent Birthday and Volcanos

Dax turned 5 on the 29th of September and here are a few photos with his new volcano and horse race game.

During his 5th year (so that's all while being 4) he has drawn, painted, colored over 426 pieces, learned to ride a bike (sans training wheels - we skipped that part altogether thanks to Grandpa's gift of the Balance Bike last Christmas, made some wonderful new friends and learned to calm himself on his own when he gets angry or upset. Of course he's developed and gained so much in vocabulary and understanding and I am deeply proud of my second son.

MATH BLOCK

We are deep in the second week of our math block for second grade. We are reviewing

Less/Greater Than with the story Contest of Crowns - I love this Enki story to illustrate this concept.

Odd/Even - Evan and Todd story again to illustrate this.

Story telling is such a big part of Enki and I love the learning process as it unfolds this way. It's so natural, organic and happens in it's own time for the children.

I brought in a big box of rice and hid items inside. I am adding more sensory work for both of the boys. I see that with the onslaught of media fine motor and other sensory development and skills are hindered. This I observe has led to less focused attention during our open intake and learning cycle.

As a result of bringing the box (I used a blind fold and they used their other senses to find the objects - we also used feet) in I noticed a settling in to themselves and their environment more readily. Less fragmented (hyper), more connected with the work and interested. The whole point of education - a lighting of a fire.

Another note taken from the resting/sleep cycle of learning. We don't usually practice violin on the weekends and as a result coming in from 2 days off today I thought there would be a struggle, instead, there was precision and the sound was clear -Ryder had made such great improvement.

So this sleep cycle is truly valuable and I'm loving that I have been able to see and hear the results.