I found a jigsaw of American presidents in the charity shop
the other day and I thought I’d buy it.The idea was to use it in home education.As it happened, I sat at the kitchen table piecing it together whilst my son
would amble through, see how I was getting on, read about one of the
presidents, find a jigsaw piece and stick it in, then amble off leaving me
to it!
I’ve found that's how education works.You can’t plan
learning, at least, not ‘real learning’. It’s possible to learn for tests by
memorising facts but they only stick if you're interested.
Despite my son not sitting down to complete the jigsaw with me (my plan) it
has already led to various discussions. We have already discovered where New
Hampshire lies in relation to the other
states in America (relevant because his cousin's have just moved there). We have discussed the Boston Tea Party, which it, transpires
he knows more about than me. Then there have been the Wars of Independence- it
seem’s I have a lot to learn!
Whilst mulling over my jigsaw, I began to see a possible
project on American presidents for this years history. It suddenly dawned on me
that we had in fact unwittingly already started it as my son had recently
watched two documentaries about the assassination of JFK and also part of the recent film about
Lincoln. I realised that I knew that JFK died in November 1963 and that Lincoln
had also been assassinated. None of these facts had been ‘learned’ they had
come randomly like the jigsaw I was putting together now.
Then yesterday an
email appeared in my in box from a self education website called OpenCulture.com It contained an oil painting of Abraham Lincoln and in the corner
of the painting was a map of the state of America over which, the artist had
said Abraham Lincoln spent many hours pouring over. The map was one of the
earliest to reveal statistical information and the darker the states were
coloured in the more slaves there were. From it Lincoln was able to see which
states were most likely to resist emancipation.
I had just finished reading my email when the post plopped
through the letter box and there on the door mat was a travel brochure from New
Hampshire, complete with a more detailed map of the state. I learned that the
poet Robert Frost had a farm there, that Thoreau wrote about it and I realised
that this project was getting big. I had moved from history to geography, to
literature and I hadn't even finished the jigsaw! Who know’s where it will
lead- we shall pursue the path to it’s natural conclusion. What I do know
however is that we will have learned WITHOUT any teaching!
The bigger picture. |
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