Kids truly do love learning. Any who appear not to have either had that desire squashed or those around them are not recognizing the learning they are loving to do!
The "trick" with so many, of course, is to provide them with things, but then give them the freedom to decide how in-depth they will go with it at any given time. Sometimes it's a matter of hitting on the right thing at the right time, but even then, if you start imposing yourself... The innate desire can fade quickly.
Take, for example, geography. Now, most non-Montessorians would say that 5yo's are not interested in geography. I would have to beg to differ. There is a huge fascination with the globe and maps. What they don't like is being required to remember certain things. My 5yo niece, while we were reading about some mammals this week, wanted to know where the monkey in question came from. I grabbed out the globe and provided a very brief lesson on where the water was and where the different continents were. I did cover the question of: Is Africa really green? (To my readers who are not familiar with a Montessori continent globe, Africa is usually green.) I decided to bring it up due to just this 5yo's nature--I could see her getting into an argument with someone older because they would insist it's not green and she would because she saw it on the globe. ;) So, I brought it up as kind of a joke, she said, "Noooo," although, she was checking with me to see if she was right. ;) Then I was able to show her where in Africa the monkey came from. Then she wanted to know what the other continents were called and so on. We spent a few minutes with this.
A day later, I decided to bring out my hand-made Continent Puzzle Map. (And man, did I wish I had dished out the $ for the wooden maps years ago! :( ) Immediately, she recognized the colour and shape of Africa. "It's Africa!" There was such delight in seeing "a familiar friend" in another material. From there, we went to match up the other puzzle map pieces with their corresponding place on the globe. She was thrilled, especially every time she saw or handled Africa. :D
A little something she learned this week that she loved learning and that will continue to delight her in the future.
1 comment:
It is always a balancing act isn't it, to get the levels right in regards to how in depth the children actually want to go with a particular topic. :)
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