Life Approach to Learning

Learning doesn't have to take place in a classroom. Everything in life is learning when one is curious, inspired and free, and when supported to explore life on one's own terms.

@noki-power turned five this summer.
She has never been to school, day care or even had a baby sitter.
She is surrounded by people who love her the most
and gets to bring forth learning in a natural and organically unfolding way.

Instead of being fed information in workbooks and other ways
someone else wants her to learn in a classroom
to pass a test or advance to the next grade level,
she spends her day in playful discovery,
(much of the time out in nature),
easily gaining skills with an inspired hands-on approach.

Noki is always engaging what she's excited about right now.
I am blessed to be reminded of presence as we play together.
We have been sharing our mornings this week
while everyone else has been sleeping.
Not only have we shared some one-on-one time together,
but we were also productive, and
Noki sharpened her categorizing skills.

Noki has quite the imagination and can have fun playing with anything.
You'll see how easy it is to incorporate learning into something
she was playing with already.

This day she was carrying around her Fingernail Polish Family.
She lined up the daddy, mommy, two twin boys and a girl on fall leaves
we gathered out on the land coming back from the chicken coop. 

Meet the Nail Polish Family

@noki-power began grouping the family by their attributes
and making patterns.

Look at all of the different ways she came up with to categorize and arrange this family,
something many would call "school" while sitting at a desk and using a workbook.

Children on the left, adults on the right

Light  colors vs. dark

Black lids vs. light colored lids

Twins vs. not twins

Shades of blue vs. not blue

Same-ish colors vs. not

First born in their families vs. not first born

Child, Adult, Child, Adult, Child

No stickers vs. stickers

Oldest Adult and Oldest Children (Twins Boys), Youngest Adult and Youngest Child

Rounded bottles vs. square bottle

Males vs. females

Striped lids vs. non striped lids

Small, big, small, big, small

@noki-power is a super smart being.
I'm so grateful she is home everyday and that I get to witness
her genius unfold.

Most parents I know worry about their children's education,
so either turn them over to the schools to be sure all the angles get covered
and their progress monitored,
homeschool them, which can essentially mean just bringing the classroom home,
or put them into private classes where they can get one-on-one attention.

I don't see any way as either right or wrong, good or bad,
but I have been blessed to see the outcome of a first and second generation of children
living life by their own design.   I can say I am more astounded everyday
at how empowered, capable, responsible and smart these children are.

Life at the @gardenofeden provides such an incredible foundation for life learning.   
I hope to continue to be part of the expansion of inspired, free space for children to grow.

See my interview with @larrymorrison on unschooling:
UNSCHOOLING - Interview @everlove and @larrymorrison

HAVE AN AWESOME DAY!!