Conversational Learning

With everything that's going on lately, we haven't done any 'formal' school work. But you can't stop kids learning, and that's what natural learning's all about. Both Shmoo and Loo love reading books and we feel both are progressing very well. Loo is starting to read sentences and Shmoo can pretty much read most things independently (he is doing the Premier's Reading Challenge). Shmoo also loves reading catalogues and working out what things are, how much they cost, what's the cheapest or most expensive item etc.


Shmoo has also recently developed a passion for drawing and colouring in and his skills in both are very impressive. He loves colouring in books but also has taken to drawing his own pictures and colouring them in. He gets obsessive about particular themes and spends days drawing one thing, in incredible detail, until he's satisfied. He's done double decker buses, normal buses, cars, vacuums, houses, churches and other things that escape my memory at the moment. Downside is that we go through heaps of paper.


Conversational learning plays a huge part in their learning, just talking with them, listening to them and being responsive to them. Like the other night at dinner our conversation started with Shmoo asking if humans were there before the dinosaurs' extinction or after. We talked about how many millions of years ago the dinosaurs existed and then how many millions of years ago humans appeared and the difference between the two. That lead to a discussion about how evolution occurs and the origin of humans (and all life, for that matter). Then we got to talking about different beliefs and religions, people's varying beliefs about how the world was created, 'God' and the gods and goddesses. Which lead to what happens after death, some people's belief of a 'heaven' or afterlife of some kind and what reincarnation means. And then we discussed having respect for other people's beliefs and what that means. And how it's important to have respect for other people, the earth, and one's self, and what all that entails. We ended the conversation on the different meanings of  the words 'respect', 'except', 'expect', and 'accept'. That's a lot of learning packed into an hour.


Gotta love how they are naturally curious and keen to learn when they are supported, believed in and just allowed to be.