Learning Outside of School

I remember a good experience when I was a Boy Scout, many years ago. We constructed our own transit, using a piece of plywood and a compass, and made a map of our neighborhood. It was fun, I learned about scale and distance, about geometry and geography, and how to read a map, but mostly I learned how to figure things out for myself. There was a lot of involvement on the part of the leader, but it was really an orchestration of the resources, like help in building the transit, suggestions about how to pace off distances, how to ask questions of him and the materials. I learned how to discover the answers rather than expecting the answers from the Scoutmaster.

Be sure that your support of the process of learning is not limited to school work. Most of our learning, especially at an early age, occurs outside of school.

Examples abound - nature walks are opportunities for discovery, there is much to learn from caring for a pet; camping trips and other family outings provide many learning to learn experiences.