Fun with Beans
Lily James
I'm sure this isn't unschooling, since my child is two and couldn't have
possibly wanted to sprout bean plants, since he didn't know they sprouted.
I'm also aware there are people who don't want to read "what we did today"
posts. However! I am unfit for being a lurker, so I just have to open my
large mouth and blab a bit :) and I think this is the most innocuous way I
can do it! :)
In Benny's Easter basket he got five kinds of dried beans and peas, and five
plastic containers to put them in. This was really *really* exciting for
him, since he loves pouring and sorting and counting and whatnot, and so he
had split peas all over the place, and kidney beans, and was lying down
among them just running his hands through and saying "Boooooteeful
Booooooteeful."
So during one of the 47 times I was picking it all up out of the carpet (All
done beans! = You pick it up Mommy!) I thought I wonder if these dried up
little old dead things would sprout. So we shredded some paper towel and put
it in a pasta cannister, wet it, and then poked the beans down in. I am
constantly fighting the "hands off - let him do it" battle with myself and
this was no exception -- he put waaaaayyy too many beans in there, and I
just said okay, whatever, if they don't sprout they don't sprout. So I let
him pour in the water (WAAAAY too much!) and shut the lid. I never EVER
really thought they would sprout.
WELL THEY DID! They absolutely totally did, those little buggers. So after a
couple days we pulled them out of there and "planted" them in some sawed off
milk jug planters with dirt which he poured in himself (shudder, I know,
hands off) and then waited for them to poke up through WHICH THEY TOTALLY
DID! And now they're about four inches high. I think it was just so cool to
see that total transformation -- and to see how Benny just sort of accepted
it like, oh, of course! :) I want him to have that farm kid awareness, or at
least as much of it as I can get into his city kid life. But it's weird how
even though I think of myself as having it, I still get sort of tingly when
I see this happening. :) ANYWAY, now I'm romanticizing and soon I'll be
naming these lousy little plants -- with my husband already saying... "Hmm,
now where are those going to GO?" Heh heh.
Love,
LILY
_________________________________________________________________
Join the world�s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail.
http://www.hotmail.com
possibly wanted to sprout bean plants, since he didn't know they sprouted.
I'm also aware there are people who don't want to read "what we did today"
posts. However! I am unfit for being a lurker, so I just have to open my
large mouth and blab a bit :) and I think this is the most innocuous way I
can do it! :)
In Benny's Easter basket he got five kinds of dried beans and peas, and five
plastic containers to put them in. This was really *really* exciting for
him, since he loves pouring and sorting and counting and whatnot, and so he
had split peas all over the place, and kidney beans, and was lying down
among them just running his hands through and saying "Boooooteeful
Booooooteeful."
So during one of the 47 times I was picking it all up out of the carpet (All
done beans! = You pick it up Mommy!) I thought I wonder if these dried up
little old dead things would sprout. So we shredded some paper towel and put
it in a pasta cannister, wet it, and then poked the beans down in. I am
constantly fighting the "hands off - let him do it" battle with myself and
this was no exception -- he put waaaaayyy too many beans in there, and I
just said okay, whatever, if they don't sprout they don't sprout. So I let
him pour in the water (WAAAAY too much!) and shut the lid. I never EVER
really thought they would sprout.
WELL THEY DID! They absolutely totally did, those little buggers. So after a
couple days we pulled them out of there and "planted" them in some sawed off
milk jug planters with dirt which he poured in himself (shudder, I know,
hands off) and then waited for them to poke up through WHICH THEY TOTALLY
DID! And now they're about four inches high. I think it was just so cool to
see that total transformation -- and to see how Benny just sort of accepted
it like, oh, of course! :) I want him to have that farm kid awareness, or at
least as much of it as I can get into his city kid life. But it's weird how
even though I think of myself as having it, I still get sort of tingly when
I see this happening. :) ANYWAY, now I'm romanticizing and soon I'll be
naming these lousy little plants -- with my husband already saying... "Hmm,
now where are those going to GO?" Heh heh.
Love,
LILY
_________________________________________________________________
Join the world�s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail.
http://www.hotmail.com
[email protected]
In a message dated 4/10/02 3:36:18 PM, glamatron@... writes:
<< I'm sure this isn't unschooling, since my child is two >>
But it's learning, and so can the same kinds of things be when he's ten!
Our pumpkins sprouted a few days ago. This is the third year from pumpkin
seeds from our own yard, from a jack-o-lantern when we first moved here.
(One year we didn't plant any.) Free pumpkins when Halloween comes!
I only talk about unschooling when I'm talking to new homeschoolers about how
kids learn. In my everyday life with freidns, relatives, neighbors, etc.,
it's just "they don't go to school" and "learning."
Sandra
<< I'm sure this isn't unschooling, since my child is two >>
But it's learning, and so can the same kinds of things be when he's ten!
Our pumpkins sprouted a few days ago. This is the third year from pumpkin
seeds from our own yard, from a jack-o-lantern when we first moved here.
(One year we didn't plant any.) Free pumpkins when Halloween comes!
I only talk about unschooling when I'm talking to new homeschoolers about how
kids learn. In my everyday life with freidns, relatives, neighbors, etc.,
it's just "they don't go to school" and "learning."
Sandra
Lynda
Oh, that brings back memories. When the kidlets were little they did
sprouts. We must have eaten sprouts on everything! It is fun for small
people because you have these little plastic lids with holes like screening
and they get to wash them out each day and then watch them sprout.
Those were the "veggies" they loved to eat the most <g> We even did
broccoli sprouts and son #3 wanted to send some to George Sr. <<<bewg>>>
Lynda
sprouts. We must have eaten sprouts on everything! It is fun for small
people because you have these little plastic lids with holes like screening
and they get to wash them out each day and then watch them sprout.
Those were the "veggies" they loved to eat the most <g> We even did
broccoli sprouts and son #3 wanted to send some to George Sr. <<<bewg>>>
Lynda
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lily James" <glamatron@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2002 2:24 PM
Subject: [Unschooling-dotcom] Fun with Beans
>
> I'm sure this isn't unschooling, since my child is two and couldn't have
> possibly wanted to sprout bean plants, since he didn't know they sprouted.
> I'm also aware there are people who don't want to read "what we did today"
> posts. However! I am unfit for being a lurker, so I just have to open my
> large mouth and blab a bit :) and I think this is the most innocuous way I
> can do it! :)
>
> In Benny's Easter basket he got five kinds of dried beans and peas, and
five
> plastic containers to put them in. This was really *really* exciting for
> him, since he loves pouring and sorting and counting and whatnot, and so
he
> had split peas all over the place, and kidney beans, and was lying down
> among them just running his hands through and saying "Boooooteeful
> Booooooteeful."
>
> So during one of the 47 times I was picking it all up out of the carpet
(All
> done beans! = You pick it up Mommy!) I thought I wonder if these dried up
> little old dead things would sprout. So we shredded some paper towel and
put
> it in a pasta cannister, wet it, and then poked the beans down in. I am
> constantly fighting the "hands off - let him do it" battle with myself and
> this was no exception -- he put waaaaayyy too many beans in there, and I
> just said okay, whatever, if they don't sprout they don't sprout. So I let
> him pour in the water (WAAAAY too much!) and shut the lid. I never EVER
> really thought they would sprout.
>
> WELL THEY DID! They absolutely totally did, those little buggers. So after
a
> couple days we pulled them out of there and "planted" them in some sawed
off
> milk jug planters with dirt which he poured in himself (shudder, I know,
> hands off) and then waited for them to poke up through WHICH THEY TOTALLY
> DID! And now they're about four inches high. I think it was just so cool
to
> see that total transformation -- and to see how Benny just sort of
accepted
> it like, oh, of course! :) I want him to have that farm kid awareness, or
at
> least as much of it as I can get into his city kid life. But it's weird
how
> even though I think of myself as having it, I still get sort of tingly
when
> I see this happening. :) ANYWAY, now I'm romanticizing and soon I'll be
> naming these lousy little plants -- with my husband already saying...
"Hmm,
> now where are those going to GO?" Heh heh.
>
> Love,
> LILY
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Join the world's largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail.
> http://www.hotmail.com
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> [email protected]
>
> Visit the Unschooling website:
> http://www.unschooling.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
Tia Leschke
>I don't see why it wouldn't count as unschooling. You offered him an
>I'm sure this isn't unschooling, since my child is two and couldn't have
>possibly wanted to sprout bean plants, since he didn't know they sprouted.
activity, and he took you up on it, learned some stuff and had fun. And
now he knows that beans sprout. Maybe he'll have questions about that
process, and maybe he won't. Or maybe the ideas will percolate, and he'll
come out with some amazing connection to something else in his life one day.
Tia
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt
*********************************************
Tia Leschke
leschke@...
On Vancouver Island