Natural Learning

I recently read the Joyful Learner's reflections on Charlotte Mason's Outdoor Life for Children series.  I admittedly don't know very much about Charlotte Mason's philosophies but these reflections really got me thinking.

Today when we were at the beach, the tide was out and L and I were walking toward the water.  L let go of my hand and said "it's okay we're over the barnacles now"

It was then that I realised how much life learning is going on every time we go to the beach. 

Just the vocabulary alone.  The things L really knows.  Not just because I told her about them or we read about them in a book but because she has experienced them first hand herself.

L knows that the ocean is made up of salt water and the lakes of fresh water because she's tasted the difference.

L knows that millions of tiny crabs live on the beach and walk sideways because she's watched them.

L knows that dark purple sand dollars are alive and white ones are no longer alive because she's felt them.

L knows what jellyfish, seaweed, sea grass, starfish, crabs, shells, barnacles, oysters, clams, minnows, driftwood, and tide pools are because she's experienced them all.  Taken them in in her own way.

Now the tide that is a different story : )  It's one of those elusive things that we keep talking about but she never seems to be able to pin down!

So many physical skills are also constantly practiced and honed.  Swimming, throwing rocks, balancing on driftwood, running and jumping over waves, digging in the sand... the list is endless.

What a wonderful way to learn and experience life and nature.  We are so blessed!

It's summer and I for one am trying to take a break from formal Montessori activities.  L has other ideas though.  I have to say I'm happy, especially in the mornings she will go and pick something now that she hasn't picked in ages and want to do it.

The other day she picked the mystery bag.  After doing it the usual way I made up an extension where I got two of every object and put one of each in the bag.  She would feel one object and then try and find it's match in the bag.  She really enjoyed this and found it quite easy.

We did this wonderful activity that we did last year again but this time I mixed up the colors and L painted each compartment.  She then went round the garden and found things that matched.

After doing our instrument activities and learning about Peter and the Wolf L made her own instrument.  A rain maker.  We got an old paper towel tube and taped aluminum foil to one end.  Then L poured in some rice and we sealed up the other end with foil as well.

We made paper mache out of water and flour and L tore up the newspaper.

Once it was dry L painted it and glued on lots of sequins.  Here she's using it outside since happily this is the only sound of rain we've heard in a while!

Activities

The last little while L has been mostly playing outside and we have been enjoying the summer.  We have managed to fit in some activities along the way.

L is still sounding out simple words.  This is a game we play where I write the word on a piece of Post It note and L has to decode it and the stick it onto the animal it belongs to.  Of course the part L enjoys most is the sticking part.

L also enjoys doing these cvc eggs .  A lot of them she doesn't  bother to read the whole word and just guesses by the first letter sound.  Of course this only works for her until she has two words that start with the same letter.  Once she starts this activity she always wants to go through all of the colors of eggs.

Another exciting way to read is to pull the words out of an egg and match them to drawings that Mummy made.

L has also been experimenting with writing letters on her chalkboard.  We take out a few of her sandpaper letters and she first traces them with her fingers and then tries to write them.  She was so proud when she first wrote her name.

Burning off some energy.  I wrote some numbers onto the stepping stones and then called them out for L to find and jump on.

and of course cleaning the toilet!

Peter and the Wolf

 We've been learning about different instruments and their sounds for about a year now and I printed out some instrument cards for L to name.  We also talked about the different families the instruments belong to-woodwind, brass, strings and percussion and sorted the cards into each of their families.

Yesterday L and I listened to my recording of Peter and the Wolf together.  You can hear a similar version here.  We cuddled on the couch and she loved being scared of the wolf.  When it was done she asked for it a second time and we acted out all of the characters as the instruments played.

We then got out the water colors and painted each of the characters.  At first she was quite abstract but as she went on they became more realistic.  You might be able to make out the Grandfather at the top and a tree and pond on the right.  Anyway I also painted some with the idea of making puppets.

As soon as I got out the scissors L wanted to cut hers out too.  So we made two sets of puppets.

After dinner we put on a puppet show for Daddy while the CD played.  It was fantastic.  L was so into it and SO serious about the whole thing.  She just couldn't wait for the wolf to come on so she could make her ahooo sounds.

Today we put the show on again for Granny with equal excitement and then matched the characters up with their instruments.

This is a wonderful way to introduce children to music and the instruments of the orchestra.