Yes, Yes, Yes, and Amen. As the pedagogue said, "You have to learn them to be interested in learning." Whole body experiences with all five senses engaged allows that to happen.
In the late 50's my mom ran a nursery school. It wasn't a day care or a pre-school but a place where children came to play together, paint at an easel, listen to stories and sing. Part of each day included time spent in huge play yard in a partially mowed field behind the house that included several old apple trees, a tree house, climbing equipment, sandbox and swings. I wonder now if that set up was part of this movement? I participated in that environment and form of learning before entering kindergarten, and to this day I love to learn.
By the time the SonsM entered school in the 90's a left brained, testable, performance oriented culture was in full swing, with most of their days spent sitting still doing repetitive paperwork involving small motor skills with little to no opportunity for hands on experiences.
A couple of years ago a private outfit called 'Go Ape!' opened an obstacle course aimed at children over an unused toboggan slide in a publicly owned Cook county Forest preserve. The course consists of climbing up a tree ladder, negotiating rope ladders between trees and culminating in a glider to bring you down to ground level. They are pretty busy throughout the summer. Being near the bike path I passed it almost every day. Last fall after the season closed I stopped to read various related signs. Wow. It costs 50 dollars a person to go through the course. I confess to being an old miser but that seems like a lot of money, I see people there sometimes with 3 or more kids. I'm also surprised that no one has accused them of racism and demand they change the name and sued for damages.
2 comments:
Yes, Yes, Yes, and Amen. As the pedagogue said, "You have to learn them to be interested in learning." Whole body experiences with all five senses engaged allows that to happen.
In the late 50's my mom ran a nursery school. It wasn't a day care or a pre-school but a place where children came to play together, paint at an easel, listen to stories and sing. Part of each day included time spent in huge play yard in a partially mowed field behind the house that included several old apple trees, a tree house, climbing equipment, sandbox and swings. I wonder now if that set up was part of this movement? I participated in that environment and form of learning before entering kindergarten, and to this day I love to learn.
By the time the SonsM entered school in the 90's a left brained, testable, performance oriented culture was in full swing, with most of their days spent sitting still doing repetitive paperwork involving small motor skills with little to no opportunity for hands on experiences.
A couple of years ago a private outfit called 'Go Ape!' opened an obstacle course aimed at children over an unused toboggan slide in a publicly owned Cook county Forest preserve. The course consists of climbing up a tree ladder, negotiating rope ladders between trees and culminating in a glider to bring you down to ground level. They are pretty busy throughout the summer. Being near the bike path I passed it almost every day. Last fall after the season closed I stopped to read various related signs. Wow. It costs 50 dollars a person to go through the course. I confess to being an old miser but that seems like a lot of money, I see people there sometimes with 3 or more kids. I'm also surprised that no one has accused them of racism and demand they change the name and sued for damages.
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