Big Learning
Big learning is when you are learning at life size. Big Learning is Karen Cole's website and newsletter and approach to life, as far as I can tell. Karen was disappointed with the big pile of small facts her kids were getting at school. A creative mom, she found it easy to do fun projects with her sons. A PhD in education made it easy for her to see the learning value in those projects. She started compiling resources for parents, based on her own experiences, and Big Learning is the result.
X recently made a cradle for her doll out of balsa wood. Let me tell you, balsa wood is great stuff. You can cut it with a craft knife and sculpt it with sandpaper. But it's real wood and you can make actual useful objects out of it. And it's so retro!
All the ideas for the project came directly from Big Learning. I got a bundle of balsa wood at the local mega-craft store along with an exacto knife and Kid's Choice Glue. (It's my choice, too. It actually holds things together while it dries, dries clear, and doesn't stink.) I showed the supplies to X, we figured out some rules for using that extremely sharp knife, and she went to town. I let her figure out what she wanted to make, how big it had to be and how she was going to fit all the parts together. She had to use geometry and measurement and fractions —and actually learn about them in order to use them.
X's doll, AB, rests easy in her new rocking cradle.
12 comments:
So cool! I'm going to go to that website. What a great way to spend the summer! Thanks.
I love this story! Especially that you let her use the sharp knife and she didn't end up in the ER. What were the rules?
Yeah, it was that freedom thing again.
The rules:
she had to wear her glasses (used as safety glasses
she could only use it when I was watching
She had to stay aware of where the blade was and put the cap on it as much as possible
the last one is hard to enforce, but I tried to help her develop awareness through constant nagging.
PS I tried to limit the number of times I exclaimed:
"X, you are going to poke your eye out doing that!"
All those rules are good ones. The awareness of where the knife is at all times is an especially good rule. It will serve her well if she becomes a surgeon or a pathologist! I wear safety glasses (and double gloves) and always stay aware of the location of the knife when doing an autopsy.
UET Mom:
that is great to know that we are aligning with professional practices in our rules. I like it when it works out that way--rules that can work throughout life.
thanks!
It is not like being a boss of a backyard flower shop, but the knife thing empowers her just the same. Try not to let her slice watermelon with a dull butcher knife....it can scar for life!! One safety rule I live by is: Don't let your child use her exacto knife while playing in the middle of the freeway!
Karla points out one important safety rule with the watermelon warning:
In the kitchen, sharp knives are less dangerous than dull ones.
Sharp ones cut, and if you have them placed on food, they cut it. Dull ones slip off the food and cut YOU.
Karla is my sister, so we share a history with safety and knives. Our mother never quite got the sharp/dull rule. So Karla, does Mom still say to you---every time she witnesses you with a sharp knife in hand---"Be careful! You're going to cut yourself!"
Or is it just me? (The scarless one.)
I loved the website. Now if I can only get the energy to do a project with my kids. We still have the Simple Screamers we began last summer half finished in our utility room.
Not sure what happened to that link but I'll try again: Simple Screamers
Ah, that's better.
Sue, That makes me feel better about the giant girl made from toilet paper tubes, paper mache and old nylons---half finished in our craft cupboard.
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