Every learning experience doesn’t have to be a huge deal. It can be very small, casual, and even unmemorable. I think it’s common, as homeschoolers, to feel pressured to learn deeply about everything. You can’t just go to the museum and look at Monet’s art. You need to prepare by reading about his life, his training, and his different periods of work. Then you need to do followup learning… Or maybe you don’t. Maybe you can just go and enjoy his beautiful paintings. You shouldn’t always feel compelled to teach and learn.
Our latest ‘casual learning experience’ started with a bet I made with one of my sons about which fork in the trail his brother would take.
“He’ll go left,” I said.
“What do you want to bet?” he asked.
“This pine cone,” I said, holding up the perfect specimen I’d picked up a few minutes earlier. I’d been looking at the purple burst of color on the bottom.
I lost the bet and he took my beautiful pine cone. I started to look for another (more perfect) pine cone to take home as a present for my husband. Just for something to do while we hiked. This led to a debate on the merits of various pine cones along the trail, questions about what the ‘prongs’ on a pine cone are called, and whether we really know all the names of the pine trees we see when we hike.
We didn’t set out to study pine cones or pine trees. We were just taking a much needed break from our house during coronavirus. We went to an area on the western edge of our county in the mountains. It was beautiful. Only a few other people were hiking and the weather was clear, sunny, and quiet.
Things closer to my house are starting to bud out and I imagine that downtown Denver at an even lower elevation has small leaves and blooms peeking out. But up there, where the foothills merge into mountains, it’s cooler and spring is slow to return. Our mission for the hike was to see how much ice remained on the ponds. Like last year, it looks like it will be well into May before we can go fishing.
We came home with clearer minds and a small pile of pine cones. That could have been the end of it. But my youngest had more than a passing interest in the topic so I gave him a short assignment – take photos of the pine cones, do a little research with our tree guide book, and write up a little bit about the trees the pine cones came from. He did. We took a look at it. I commented on how much I liked his photos and that was the end of it.
This could have evolved into a unit study on coniferous trees. It didn’t. It’s okay to just learn a little. Maybe you’ll see a frog on your next hike and it will spur an in-depth study on amphibians. Or you’ll go home and watch a short youtube frog video. Or, you’ll just say, “Hey, look. A frog.”
In-depth learning experiences are important, like when we were able to attend a special showing of Monet’s work at the Denver Art Museum this past winter. But I try to keep a balance between deep, focused studies and casual learning.
It’s good to notice the world around you and appreciate it, whether you dive in or skim across the surface. I hope you are able to spend some time this spring appreciating the outdoors with your kids, whether it turns into ‘education’ or not.
By the way, the ‘prongs’ on pinecones are called scales