Cooking in the Kitchen

It almost seems to be a creed among home schoolers that cooking in the kitchen, at a young age, is essential. That it's a great way to learn math. It's a basic!

Well, it certainly is a useful life skill, but for whatever reason, we've been a bit negligent in this area. And now, at the age of 8, my son has little interest in this endeavour. And while we do have time on our side-- I mean, he is only 8-- I still have doubts creeping in. lol. Perhaps it's a stage, but that doesn't mean I don't take certain measures! I can not stand the idea of my son being 18 and not able to cook an egg...or something vegetarian... or vegan...whatever  ;-)
Besides, it would be lovely to have help in the kitchen and sharing the cooking duties when he's a bit older. It's all about being equal members of the household.

But we're Natural Learners and I don't force him to learn specific things. So what to do?

First, I continuously borrow children's cookbooks out from the library and leave them on his library bookshelf. I suggest he check them for something he'd like to make. Although he'd often flip through things, nothing came of it.

Second, I have to restructure my thinking. We're fairly healthy eaters over here and seldom eat junk food. Ah, this means we've done very little baking. Duh! There's my problem. How hard is it to entice a young chef into the kitchen to bake? Well.... it can be, but I won't go there.

The latest round of cookbooks included new finds in the areas of my son's current interests: Star Wars and Garfield. The Star Wars Cook Book: Wookiee Cookies and Other Galactic Recipes by Robin Davis. The Star Wars Cook Book II: Darth Malt and Other Galactic Recipes by Frankeny. I'm in the Mood for Food: In the Kitchen with Garfield. 

The Garfield one was thoroughly flipped through and all comics read, but no interesting recipes caught the attention of my boy.

The two Star Wars Cook Books were a hit though as several desserts and drinks have been highlighted and put on the agenda. Now, I must say *I* am not impressed with the recipes, but it's a cute set of books that my son enjoys.

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A Mathematician's Lament Against School Math

I thought I'd share this very interesting article on mathematics. Written by Paul Lockhart, a mathematician, it challenges our culture's perception of what mathematics really is and how schools in no way teach real math. It focuses on K-12 education and how mathematics is more of a beautiful art form than a jumble of utilitarian formulas and practices.

It's 25 pages long (pdf), but well worth the time. I found this opinion piece illuminating and inspiring.

A Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart.

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Project Summaries and The Chronicles of Narnia

I can't claim that we do unit studies around here, but I love the concept. And I love lists. So, I tend to group similar topics together and make lists under "Project Summaries" when I'm collating our learning activities (which I do informally).

For example, I'm a keener for learning about Canada. I don't drill Canadian trivia into my son, however, I do have an on going section in my file for all things Canada. When we read a Canadian author, it goes into that list. When we visit a historical site, it goes into that list. When we watch CG Kids, it goes into that list. My son has several books on Canada that he loves, and those go into that list. Canadian music, stories, articles, dvds, experiences, field trips, etc.

Some "Project Summaries" are shorter than others while some are really in depth. My son's current Project Summary for Star Wars is quite an extensive resource list, lol!

 And some, like this Narnia one, are short and on going.

First off, my son and I listened to the audiobook The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
[I typically only read one chapter book out loud and that one is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the moment.]

My son read the very colourful Step Into Narnia: A Journey Through "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" by E.J. Kirk 

Of course, we had to watch The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the new movie! We're borrowing the older version from the library and will compare the two very soon.

And the inspiration for doing all this right now: the Narnia exhibit at our Telus World of Science. Apparently, photos are not allowed within the exhibit, sorry :(

However, follow this link to the promo video on the official website.
This exhibit ends May 1, 2011! It's the last few weeks, but plenty off time to enjoy it.

We printed out the educational guide pdf from the Narnia Exhibit website. It looked good and my son wants to do most of the activities.

We will listen to the rest of the Narnia books and keep our eyes out for complimentary  books, like the above Step into Narnia book. Plus watch the old and new movies.

Normally I'd be inspired to take out more library resources on England and London, but we've previously delved into London, England before our visit there-- plus our actual visit and all the photos! My son did not ask to learn more and we have several other countries he's interested in learning about right now.

An Independent Project...Unschooling?

"Let Kids Rule the School" is an article written by Susan Engel, March 15, 2011 for the New York Times.

Check it out and see what you think.

Sigh. I love Natural Learning... unschooling!

New Star Wars Books

My son is totally engrossed in all things Star Wars. From the movies to all the encyclopedic books and everything in between, my son is obsessed ;-)

The New Acquisitions

... passionate?!

He reads Star Wars, he watches Star Wars, he plays Star Wars, he draws Star Wars, and he probably dreams Star Wars. Oh, hey, and he counts his money to pay for Star Wars and does the calculations to ensure he has enough to pay for his purchases (that is, when we are not using the library as a free resource).

Returned, Read, To the Library

His newest additions to his repertoire include a fun little book on light sabers and the Star Wars "A Long Time Ago" Omnibus which is a collection of the first 23 Star Wars comics ever written-- complete with all their mistakes (like not knowing that Luke and Leah were siblings or that Darth Vader was the Father or where the rebel base was relocated). Sigh, and it is only volume one, lol! This was a great find though because my son was willing to pay 8$ or even $15 for the original individual comics. But he has no interest in collecting and saving, he just wants the pleasure of reading the original stories, thank goodness for these omnibus collections!

Not Very Many Out From the Library At the Moment

Home Collection

More Books, Plus All Kinds of Lego Sets

And Even Action Figures!

Unschooling: Thomas the Tank Engine

Photography by my son

What do I like about unschooling?
I enjoy the fantastic surprises, growth, change, and cultivation of new endeavours that result from fully explored passions and through the luxury of unbridled time!

Photography by my son

Not too long ago, my son was considering selling his wooden Thomas the train collection. At that time he was really into Lego and itching for money to buy more sets. It's a good thing he never followed through as he is now so engrossed in the subject of Thomas! He reads the stories, he knows what characters and destinations came out in which year, he has read all the character profiles online, he watches the videos and movies, he draws Thomas and Friends engines and scenes, he creates new layouts with his tracks and creates stories with his engines, and he's found several YouTube story videos by fellow children.

Perhaps this last bit is where he's found his inspiration. In fact, I believe he had been searching for Lego videos when he stumbled upon a YouTube videographer by the name of ThomasWoodenRailway who does a series of Thomas videos. Ever since then, the Thomas madness has stricken my child.

The fantastic thing about it though, is how his play has developed and grown since his initial interest in this subject. His story creation is infinitely more elaborate and richly detailed and concise. But he's found a new passion: story videos. He is now filming his own YouTube-bound videos. In this process he is learning all kinds of techniques through trial and error and by viewing other people's work. He's even learning to self edit and purge the not-so-great videos while keeping the ones he likes. 

Photography by my son

My son told me one day that I should thank Thomas because he's learning new things. I asked him to elaborate, so he explained that he was practicing his writing and spelling while labeling his sketches. Furthermore, he knows what cameo means in relation to movies.

I thought about it and figured he's learning so much more than that! I've already explained how his stories have grown, but his ability to research and navigate the Internet is also developing in leaps and bounds. His editing and analysing abilities are likewise skyrocketing; it's really funny listening to him explain all the "goofs" he finds in the YouTube videos or within the real Thomas and Friends shows. He's back into photography and documenting his track layouts. Not to mention all the arts and crafts related to Thomas that he's been doing. And, all that reading of so many different mediums! He's even learned about the original author and how his son took over after his death. I'm sure I could sit down and scrutinise it further, but I think you get the point.