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In a message dated 3/9/2003 12:59:57 PM Eastern Standard Time,
SandraDodd@... writes:


> I even wrote an essay once about my son's obsession with dinosaurs and the
> way that it branched out to cover many "school subjects." I passed it
> around
> to relatives so they could see how much he was really learning. >>
>
> And? Do you still have it and will you send it to us?
>

I would be happy to...please bear in mind that it is my first attempt at
writing since college. :) I had been thinking a lot about our unschooling
lifestyle and was trying to express my thoughts on paper.

Learning With Dinosaurs


My son Trevor (age 5) has developed an obsession that hits many little
boys between the ages of four and seven years of age: dinosaurs. Apatosaurus,
brachiosaurus, coelophysis....these names are tossed around our house in the
course of normal conversation. I'm not sure if he was first introduced to
dinosaurs through TV or books or even Land Before Time videos but they are
definitely now a part of our day-to-day life and I have learned far more
about dinosaurs than I ever wanted to know! This interest has also shown me
how to trust that learning occurs when a child is allowed to explore his or
her passions without a parent disrupting the natural flow with explanations
or "teaching."

Here are some examples of natural learning that have taken place during
the dinosaur phase:

As Trevor approached the age of 5, I was beginning to be slightly
concerned with my son's "odd" pencil grip and his utter lack of desire to
write his letters. In my mind, I knew that he was still very young but I
could not help trying to correct his pencil grip or demonstrating how to
write "cat." My efforts were met with his justified refusal to write anything
at all and I decided to let him move at his own pace (which is what I should
have done in the first place.)

Months went by and he developed the interest in dinosaurs. He spent many
hours pouring over picture books and being an early reader, read them aloud
to anyone who would listen. After a while, we would find him lying on the
floor drawing pictures of the various species of dinosaurs. When he showed
them to us, he would proudly point out each type, "This is a Tyrannosaurus
rex, this is a stegosaurus, this is an archaeopteryx" and so on. One day, he
brought me a picture he had drawn of a big, long-necked dinosaur and under
the drawing was the scrawled word "brachiosaurus." His passion for dinosaurs
had prompted him to write that long word better than all my efforts to get
him to write "cat!"

Trevor has also learned a lot about science, of course, through this
dinosaur phase. He's learned what an omnivore, an herbivore and a carnivore
are and about predators, scavengers and prey. These concepts led to
discussions about food chains and life in the wild.

We've also talked about the different theories of the dinosaurs'
extinction and the evidence which make scientists support the different
theories. We went to Fossil Park in Sylvania, Ohio and learned about fossils
and then we read about the tar pits where dinosaurs would meet untimely
deaths. This led to discussions about the geographical locations of various
dinosaurs and we located them on a world map.


The questions about dinosaurs soon exceeded my meager knowledge of
them and Trevor learned ways to find his own answers. I showed him how to
search for information online, how to look up specific names in glossaries
and indexes of books and how to check his own books out of the library. These
skills will aid him in learning about any subject in which he will be
interested in the future.

Just yesterday, he glanced up from one of his books and exclaimed,
"Hey, Mom, this says that dimetrodons were 29 feet long! How long is that?"
We got out a 12-inch ruler and marked off 29 feet across the house. "Wow,
that's really long!" he said with his eyes wide. I think that was the first
time he really realized how big some of those creatures were. He spent the
rest of the afternoon mapping about the lengths of various other dinosaurs
and then measured the lengths of items around the house, like books, crayons
and his little sister's ponytail!

Watching my son follow his interests and learning about his world in
the process has been an enlightening experience for me. I have a new
confidence in children's curiosity and their drive to learn and explore. As I
write, Trevor is developing a a new interest in sharks and I can only
anticipate what paths we will follow and what we will learn. Who knows where
it will take us?



Amy Kagey
E-mail me for a list of used
homeschooling books for sale!
<A HREF="http://www.ubah.com/ecommerce/default.asp?sid=Z0939&gid=462366">Shop: Usborne Books!</A>




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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I went through EXACTLY the same things---just 12-13 years ago!

Wonderful essay, Amy!

~Kelly

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In a message dated 3/9/03 2:29:28 PM Eastern Standard Time, amycats2@...
writes:

> Watching my son follow his interests and learning about his world in
> the process has been an enlightening experience for me. I have a new
> confidence in children's curiosity and their drive to learn and explore. As
> I
> write, Trevor is developing a a new interest in sharks and I can only
> anticipate what paths we will follow and what we will learn. Who knows
> where
> it will take us?
>
>
>
>

What a nice essay. Nice to keep for him as well.
Pam G.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

MARK and JULIE SOLICH

Me too! A year or so ago. It is awesome to watch them *suck the marrow* out
of a subject and they don't forget what they discover either.

When I think of the subjects we've covered when we were schooling at home I
realize that even though they were happy to *learn* with me, they haven't
remembered much of what we covered.

It wasn't important to them. Just to me!

Julie
----- Original Message -----
From: <kbcdlovejo@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2003 3:36 AM
Subject: Re: [Unschooling-dotcom] essay about dinosaurs


> I went through EXACTLY the same things---just 12-13 years ago!
>
> Wonderful essay, Amy!
>
> ~Kelly
>
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