Random Learning Moments

I was thinking today yet again about how hard it is to cram all the little random learning moments we have in a day into some sort of record, or anything tangible that says, "Look here! We are learning things in this family!" I struggle constantly to try to fit it all into the little boxes I know the officials would like to see.

Yes, I do have a few books and curricula that we are following and trying to complete, but a lot of stuff that gets learned is either entirely random and/or un-catagorizable. For example, this past week my daughter has taken up trying to learn how to use my sewing machine. The result has been many useless items made out of felt, but I figure you learn by making mistakes and since I hardly know how to sew myself, it's better that she just figure it out herself than have me try to teach her anything. I guess this comes under the heading of "home economics"?

We randomly watched a video showing a Rube Goldberg machine, and my son has been fascinated all week. He keeps watching it over and over and finding new ones to show me on YouTube. I think this might be vaguely educational, but I'm not sure how. Physics? Creativity? Problem solving?

A trip to the dentist sparked a discussion about "Why is sugar bad for you?". This got me off on a tangent about evolution and we debated whether humans still evolve in the usual way, or are we exempt from that now? Philosophy? Biology?

I marveled at how my son voluntarily wrote some words on the white board to prove a point and thought nothing of it. This from a kid who six months ago would never pick up a writing implement unless directly ordered to do so. He is now doodling in his math book, which makes me simultaneously proud and wanting to pull my hair out.

My daughter asked me what the difference was between first, second, and third person writing. Sadly, I didn't remember the answer, so we looked it up and all learned a little something. I suppose that one's a little easier... Language Arts?

The live cam I posted of the baby bald eagles is another example. We watched them for quite a while today. What we learned was more experiential than factual. This is what the nest looks like. Is that a dead fish? How old do you think those babies are? There was no lesson per-se on eagle biology, but I think something was learned never-the-less.

My daughter suddenly decided she wanted in-line skates last week. She decided to use her saved allowance to buy herself some and badgered me into taking her to the store to get them. She's spent a great deal of time this week outside trying to learn how to use them, and she's finally having some success! P.E.? Money management? I'd call it "goal setting and learning to stick with something even if it's hard".

I have kept a log of our daily activities since we started this adventure, but have only recently tried to pare it down to something that is a little more of a summary. I shun all organizational packages and systems because I know if I don't come up with it myself I'll never use it. This year I'm trying something new. It's a simple spreadsheet. A have a clipboard and I mark off the different boxes as we go through the day, keeping things under the various learning "categories" (math, writing, reading, social studies, art, etc.). Weeks like this, however, make me realize how ridiculous it all is. If it weren't for the need to be accountable to the powers that be, I'm tempted to just chuck it all and go free-form. Life truly is learning, and it's all good stuff, even if it doesn't help you on the yearly test.