Is learning fun?
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-=-
Now all of a sudden he says he is not interested in anything just
having fun
and no learning is not "fun"-=-
I keep reading all these posts with people struggling to get unschooling,
and about parents frustrated because their kids are saying that learning isn't
fun. So I thought about it. Most of the kids saying this think of "learning"
as something kind of the opposite of fun.
Playing games is fun. Watching tv is fun. Reading can be fun (if it's
something you like and you're doing it for...well...fun.) Playing with (and maybe
even taking care of) the dog is fun, pretending to be a pirate, making things,
using the computer, maybe cooking... Fun.
You get the idea. And most people who are here, even the beginners, will
recognize that for any and all of these things that kids choose to do for fun
during the day can be a source of remarkable learning.
But I think that even a lifelong unschooled kid would emit a bored sigh if
someone said, "Let's LEARN today!"
It's meaningless, and it even sounds boring. Learning isn't fun -- doing
stuff that you find interesting and discovering more about it so you can do it
better -- that's fun. Using stuff you already know to discover more interesting
things is fun too. But it has to be connected to something to mean
anything, and when we talk about learning to kids (or even to each other) as an
abstract concept, we lose them.
It's all about relationship. Kids often find school boring because
everything is presented as Necessary, but not necessarily related facts. Learning
isn't fun. Sometimes in school they happen upon a topic or a book that the kid
finds interesting and exciting, and sometimes that moment can change a kid's
life. But it isn't the teaching/learning -- it's the relationship to the child.
We don't have to do that. We can just live and explore and let our kids'
worlds be very, very big so they can find the connections to themselves. We may
notice that our kids are learning, but it doesn't have to be about that.
Kathryn
Come to the Northeast Unschooling Conference, Memorial Day Weekend, May
26-28, 2006 in Peabody, Massachusetts! www.NortheastUnschoolingConference.com
Now all of a sudden he says he is not interested in anything just
having fun
and no learning is not "fun"-=-
I keep reading all these posts with people struggling to get unschooling,
and about parents frustrated because their kids are saying that learning isn't
fun. So I thought about it. Most of the kids saying this think of "learning"
as something kind of the opposite of fun.
Playing games is fun. Watching tv is fun. Reading can be fun (if it's
something you like and you're doing it for...well...fun.) Playing with (and maybe
even taking care of) the dog is fun, pretending to be a pirate, making things,
using the computer, maybe cooking... Fun.
You get the idea. And most people who are here, even the beginners, will
recognize that for any and all of these things that kids choose to do for fun
during the day can be a source of remarkable learning.
But I think that even a lifelong unschooled kid would emit a bored sigh if
someone said, "Let's LEARN today!"
It's meaningless, and it even sounds boring. Learning isn't fun -- doing
stuff that you find interesting and discovering more about it so you can do it
better -- that's fun. Using stuff you already know to discover more interesting
things is fun too. But it has to be connected to something to mean
anything, and when we talk about learning to kids (or even to each other) as an
abstract concept, we lose them.
It's all about relationship. Kids often find school boring because
everything is presented as Necessary, but not necessarily related facts. Learning
isn't fun. Sometimes in school they happen upon a topic or a book that the kid
finds interesting and exciting, and sometimes that moment can change a kid's
life. But it isn't the teaching/learning -- it's the relationship to the child.
We don't have to do that. We can just live and explore and let our kids'
worlds be very, very big so they can find the connections to themselves. We may
notice that our kids are learning, but it doesn't have to be about that.
Kathryn
Come to the Northeast Unschooling Conference, Memorial Day Weekend, May
26-28, 2006 in Peabody, Massachusetts! www.NortheastUnschoolingConference.com
Heather Woodward
It's also what we are learning. In school you are forced to "learn"
something whether you find it interesting or not. And there is such a
general area of facts that are to be learned in school. Unschooling allows a
child to focus on what interests them and often because school is so
narrow - the breadth of learning in the world is not in that narrow frame
that we were conditioned was "educational". So when our children are doing
things that are "fun" to them but we see them as "not educational" we are
forcing them to view life through our narrowly conditioned mind.
We may
Heather
something whether you find it interesting or not. And there is such a
general area of facts that are to be learned in school. Unschooling allows a
child to focus on what interests them and often because school is so
narrow - the breadth of learning in the world is not in that narrow frame
that we were conditioned was "educational". So when our children are doing
things that are "fun" to them but we see them as "not educational" we are
forcing them to view life through our narrowly conditioned mind.
We may
> notice that our kids are learning, but it doesn't have to be about that.This is very true.
Heather
Melissa
<<Learning isn't fun -- doing stuff that you find interesting and
discovering more about it so you can do it better -- that's fun.>>
I have always found learning to be fun. I suppose that is because I
was usually given the oprotunity to learn about subjects that I was
interested in. When I was in HS (and since then), if I found a
subject interesting (I went to public school), I would go to the
library and read everything I could get my hands on about it. If I
read a book that I really liked, I would get every book written by
that author and read them.
As a result, I usually ended up knowing, understanding, and
retaining a lot more than they ever taught in school. I was
also "lucky" enough to have teachers who understood that I learned
better on my own. Yes, I was still required to turn in book reports
and similar projects but I was usually given the leeway to do these
projects on subjects that interested me (which was not always what
was being taught in class).
Maybe that is why I have had no real problem understanding and even
embarcing unschooling. All I know is that I want my daughter to
grow up loving to learn about things that interest her and not being
forced to study things she has no interest in; memorizing the
answers so that she can pass the test and then prompty forgetting it
all.
Melissa
discovering more about it so you can do it better -- that's fun.>>
I have always found learning to be fun. I suppose that is because I
was usually given the oprotunity to learn about subjects that I was
interested in. When I was in HS (and since then), if I found a
subject interesting (I went to public school), I would go to the
library and read everything I could get my hands on about it. If I
read a book that I really liked, I would get every book written by
that author and read them.
As a result, I usually ended up knowing, understanding, and
retaining a lot more than they ever taught in school. I was
also "lucky" enough to have teachers who understood that I learned
better on my own. Yes, I was still required to turn in book reports
and similar projects but I was usually given the leeway to do these
projects on subjects that interested me (which was not always what
was being taught in class).
Maybe that is why I have had no real problem understanding and even
embarcing unschooling. All I know is that I want my daughter to
grow up loving to learn about things that interest her and not being
forced to study things she has no interest in; memorizing the
answers so that she can pass the test and then prompty forgetting it
all.
Melissa
Sandra Dodd
On Mar 30, 2006, at 2:36 PM, Melissa wrote:
find interesting and
discovering more about it so you can do it better -- that's fun."
Sandra
> if I found aRight. That wasn't school-learning. That was "doing stuff that you
> subject interesting (I went to public school), I would go to the
> library and read everything I could get my hands on about it. If I
> read a book that I really liked, I would get every book written by
> that author and read them.
find interesting and
discovering more about it so you can do it better -- that's fun."
Sandra
tammy steele
>In school you are forced to "learn"something whether you find it interesting or not.<
Hmm.... For every action, there is and equal and opposite reaction. (did I learn that in school? I can't remember...)
Tammy