I don’t want my kids to think that school and learning can only happen within the boundaries of bookwork. I want to blur the lines between homeschool and life so that my kids understand that learning happens all the time – not just when a curriculum says to learn or a book tells them what they should be learning.
So how do we blur those lines?
For me and my kids, this means that I listen to the things they want to explore. I want them to be excited about their learning! So when they get excited about something that isn’t in the curriculum, I consider putting aside what we have on the schedule to follow their interests.
If we want to blur these lines between school and life, we need to give our kids time and space to create, play, explore, and learn on their own time!
If our kids are over-scheduled and they are always waiting for the next activity or lesson or planned event, they won’t have time to come up with things to do, get deep into their pretend play, or make learning discoveries on their own.
Having open-ended toys and materials that your kids can use creatively makes it much easier for kids to play independently.
What are open-ended toys and materials? Anything that can be used more than one way.
Things like blocks, dress-up clothes, cars and trucks, figurines like animals or people. This could also be things like sticks and rocks, tree stumps, water, beads, playdough, cardboard boxes, and other materials you grab form the recycling bin.
What about older kids? Legos, art supplies, sports equipment, tools and scrap wood, old electronics they can take apart, musical instruments, magnifying glasses, bug catchers, handicraft materials like yarn and sewing supplies… think of what your kid is interested in, and find materials related to their hobbies or interests.
Giving our kids creative materials, lots of different books to read, art materials, as well as the time and space to create and explore helps to blur these lines between school and life, so that we aren’t always telling them what to learn and when to learn it.
You don’t need to go full on unschooling, but giving your kids freedom to explore and learn on their own – outside of the curriculum – is a key part of learning!