If you had always been free to learn, you would follow your natural tendency to find out as fully as possible about the things that interest you, cars or stars. We are all born with what they call “love of learning,” but it dives off into an elusive void when we go to school.
Natural Learning Archives
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Little children love the world. That is why they are so good at learning about it. For it is love, not tricks and techniques of thought, that lies at the heart of all true learning. Can we bring ourselves to let children learn and grow through that love?
— John Holt
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“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” – W.B. Yeats Spring is a magical time. Life returns after a long sleep. We took a hike on a little-known trail the other day. Our path led us up the side of the mountain and round a bend, right…
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Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.
— Socrates
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We can best help children learn, not by deciding what we think they should learn and thinking of ingenious ways to teach it to them, but by making the world, as far as we can, accessible to them, paying serious attention to what they do, answering their questions — if they have any — and…
— John Holt
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Most parents have an acutely tuned sense of responsibility–to the point where they consider relaxation and leisure, for themselves or their children, a self-indulgent luxury. By taking nature experience out of the leisure column and placing it in the health column, we are more likely to take our children on that hike–more likely to, well,…
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The beneficial effects of getting just a little true play can spread through our lives, actually making us more productive and happier in everything we do.
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Quick post on why walking is wonderful. Worth a few minutes to read. :) I feel that my children (and myself!) are at our best, our most creative, our most curious, our most inspired, after we’ve spent time outside, moving, breathing, walking, working!
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We make it into Yellowstone at least once a week right now. It requires a lot more effort than in the warmer months, but it is worth it. From the moment I enter those borders, I am home. (This is Richie, the girls’ hiking mascot. Every kid should have a mascot, don’t you think?) :)…
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I think that one of the best and easiest ways to open the minds of your children to new thoughts, new ideas, and new places comes through reading. I believe that reading opens the door to more interests and ideas and concepts than anything else. Take the past 24 hours, for example. I love to…
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Have you read this yet? This brilliant article discusses the “disease of being busy,” our culture’s obsession with activity and with accomplishing tasks on our to-do lists. When our own family found ourselves caught in the throes of being busy, we were incredibly unhappy. We were stressed and tense. Even after we started unschooling, it…
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If there is anything that Yellowstone has taught us, it is patience. Quiet, pleasant patience. That things take time, and sometimes the time is long and that rushing does no good. Last week, it rained and rained. And rained. It was wonderful. I am grateful for ponchos and sweatshirts. The chilly weather gave us a…