A Little Goes a Long Way

Posted by Marsha | 0 comments

Sometimes I drive myself crazy wondering if any of our homeschooling lessons are actually going to stick.  Will my kids really remember the scientific method or this history lesson by the time next week rolls around?  Will they even remember any of it tomorrow?!

I think it is safe to say that I am not the only homeschooling parent that has struggled with these thoughts at one time or another.  As a home educator, one of my goals is to make learning both interesting and memorable for my boys.  The struggle, however, is turning these goals into reality.

Yes, I do realize that my children will not remember everything that they’ve been taught and that I shouldn’t stress out over it.  I also know that learning is a process, a journey, a bucket…  Oh wait, the mind is a bucket to be filled (or something like that)…  building blocks, one step at a time, instill the love of learning… you and I both get the drift. Regardless of all that, I DO want them to remember SOME of their learning!

The good news is that it doesn’t take a grand production or hours of meticulous planning to make a lasting impression! When it comes to learning, a little thing can go a very long way.

For example, we are currently learning about a family’s journey on a wagon train to settle a frontier town. Consequently, we’re talking about a prairie schooner, as opposed to the boat kind of schooner.  Schooner, schooner, schooner… This word is definitely not in our normal vocabulary, but it is fun to say (or is it just me and my nerdiness rearing its ugly head?) and makes quite a positive impression on the “outside” world.

An interesting fact about prairie schooners is that they were only 4′ x 12′. At first my boys thought it was plenty of room for the 2,000 mile journey on the Oregon Trail (with half of that going through mountains). But then we taped it off in the driveway…

Whoa schooner! It’s not quite as big as they thought it would be, especially if you have to make room for supplies*.  Talk about making me thankful for my big house (and cars and electricity and running water and my bed and my bathtub)!

It only took a few minutes to tape off that schooner in the driveway. Those well spent minutes helped to cement the information in my children’s minds and also opened up their imaginations to a time and place in history. 

One of the things that I love most about homeschooling is being able to seize these opportunities to make history (or any subject) real, applicable and memorable for my kids!

Quite frankly, most of my “good” ideas are completely swiped from my clever friends.  Is there anything that you have recently learned in your homeschool that has really stuck with you or your kids?  Did you incorporate something that helped to concrete the information or idea in your child’s mind?   Share your great ideas with us in the comments section!  Speaking of comments, we now have the ability to reply to each other’s comments in the comments section– perfect for interactive discussions!

*If you or your adventurous children are interested in exploring the topic, I highly recommend the book “Going West!” by Carol Johmann and Elizabeth Rieth. This history book is filled with facts, stories, illustrations and hands-on activities that are actually do-able.

Marsha is proud to be the Mrs. to David for over 12 years. They have been homeschooling their rowdy boys in the Lone Star State for over 5 years. When she’s feeling like a slacker, you can find her drinking coffee, reading a book and writing at her blog — and sometimes all at the same time! You can find Marsha at Our Homeschool and Other Such Happenings.