Traveling is such a great opportunity for learning. C had so many growth spurts on this trip; intellectually, socially and emotionally.
Don has taken flying lessons and piloted planes on many occasions, so C got some "Flying Basics For An Almost-Seven-Year-Old" on the airplane ride down to Florida.
He overcame many worries and fears that would have been crippling only six months ago (noisy, crowded places, dark, loud movies, anything unexpected or unplanned to name just a few!)
He bought a new watch (with hands) with his spending money and learned how to tell time. Prior to this trip he could tell time using a clock with hands only by the hour and half hour. Because time is of the utmost importnace in DisneyWorld he spent a lot of time practicing how to read his new watch. Now he can read the clock as well as I do! He didn't need worksheets, computer learning programs or apps. He just needed a reason to learn it and lots of opportunity to practice.
He started collecting Disney Pins on our trip and got lots of practice making tough decisions regarding pin purchases and pin trades (there are lots of opportunities to trade with other collectors and participating cast members). He had opportunities to chat with folks about his collection, learn the history of some of the pins and trading ettiquette. So cool!
He loved touring the countries in Epcot's World Showcase with his dad. He learned how to say and write his name in several different languages. He enjoyed learning the different flags and got a flavor for different architectural styles from around the world. He met people from other countries, racial and ethnic backgrounds and cultures (Epcot's World Showcase employees are from the countries in which they work). Epcot World Showcase was his favorite part of the trip.
There is so so much more that he learned, I can hardly remember it all! That's what is so cool about this kind of learning. It just happens; you barely even take notice!
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
Evil, Un-Educational Computer Games?
C has been spending a lot of time playing Clone Wars Adventures. "Experts" say too much computer time is bad bad bad. I have been hearing the same messages as every other parent since C (my oldest) was in the womb. I am just as wired as most parents to feel almost-compulsive guilt about, not merely "un-educational" computer game play during "school time", but LOTS of it. When this happens I try to sit with the guilt, fallacies and fears until I get through it and to a place where I have a new script. For example:
"What a horrible mom I am for allowing him to waste his time on something that has no educational value."
eventually turns into this:
"This is so cool that he can spend time playing a game he loves when he feels compelled to while learning things like: larger number concepts (counting thousands and tens of thousands of Republic Credits), estimating and rounding up and down in the hundreds and thousands (in order to "buy" gadgets and gizmos he wants), keeping track of his "spending" and making careful choices about how to spend his Republic Credits, losing a strategic battle game several times before finally winning with the perfect set-up (determined through trial and error and many losses), exercising extreme patience in that battle that lasted 3 hours before he was finally victorious!"
I love my job.
"What a horrible mom I am for allowing him to waste his time on something that has no educational value."
eventually turns into this:
"This is so cool that he can spend time playing a game he loves when he feels compelled to while learning things like: larger number concepts (counting thousands and tens of thousands of Republic Credits), estimating and rounding up and down in the hundreds and thousands (in order to "buy" gadgets and gizmos he wants), keeping track of his "spending" and making careful choices about how to spend his Republic Credits, losing a strategic battle game several times before finally winning with the perfect set-up (determined through trial and error and many losses), exercising extreme patience in that battle that lasted 3 hours before he was finally victorious!"
I love my job.
Week of 1/31/12
Stuff C worked on this week:
- Addition (Spaceship Addition, Version N from Dad's Worksheets)
- Khan Academy - Addition 3, video and practice
- Disney Story Smash Up card game
- DVD - Ecosystems and Biomes
- Built a terrarium, made frequent observations and wrote about the project and documented some observations on his blog.
- Spelling activities (First Grade, List 18 from Super Teacher Worksheets)
- Subtraction (Spaceship Subtraction, Version G from Dad's Worksheets)
- Counting money
- Writing arithmetic equations vertically
- Battleship board game
- Clone Wars Adventures (A LOT!)
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