A Captain Idea for us, — Education is the Science of Relations. — A child should be brought up to have relations of force with earth and water, should run and ride, swim and skate, lift and carry; should know texture, and work in material; should know by name, and where and how they live at any rate, the things of the earth about him, its birds and beasts and creeping things, its herbs and trees; should be in touch with the literature, art and thought of the past and the present. ~ Charlotte Mason
I am now convinced that kids today need handwork more than ever.
Children gravitate toward screens during their free time. If we find educational games that teach them something academic, we feel a little better about it. Families are so busy making ends meet that we are too exhausted a little bit of mess into the home for handwork.
We found the opportunities to problem solve. The first time we made pinwheels we made the mistake of using cardstock. One student in the next class decided to make a pinwheel in cardstock and another with colored copy paper. The students learned really quickly that too much glue ruins the paper. They figured out how to tilt the pinwheel just so and blow in the perfect spot to make it spin.
Plus, I inserted proper math terms into the conversation. I really despise the hamburger versus hotdog terms for portrait and landscape. Why? Because when you use real computer software to set up an image or document, they use the latter terms.
We had a blast making our pinwheels!