This Week in Natural Learning | Happiness is here
The Week That Was

The week that was… Natural learning

I think it’s hard sometimes for people to really understand what education looks like from a natural learning perspective. How so much learning happens through everyday life, and how children can be trusted to direct their own learning. It really is amazing and I just love to watch it all unfold. Every Sunday I will be sharing some snippets of the natural learning that I have captured in the past week. Joining me are three other inspiring Australian homeschoolers, Kate from An Everyday Story, Rachel from Racheous – Lovable Learning, and Jess from Memoirs of a Childhood. Be sure to check out what they have been up to this week, and feel free to leave me a comment about what you have been doing too!

This week the 3 girls have all been sick! It has felt like we haven’t been doing much else but rest and recover. I wondered if I would have enough photos to put together a post but upon looking through them I see that there has still been a lot of learning going on…

The Week that was... Natural Learning | Happiness is here

Spring has sprung and there was much excitement when we discovered our first sunflower in the garden!

The Week that was... Natural Learning | Happiness is here

Work started on a new season’s wall immediately.

The Week that was... Natural Learning | Happiness is here

The bee project continues.

The Week that was... Natural Learning | Happiness is here

My 5yo made a clay and wire sculpture of bee’s collecting nectar from a wattle tree, while my 3 year old made a ‘rainbow park’.

The Week that was...Natural Learning | Happiness is hereThere were more trips down to watch the bees in the wattle trees, this time with paper and pens to draw what they saw.

This Week in Natural Learning | Happiness is here

The Week that was...Natural Learning | Happiness is hereI even managed to capture a picture of a bee in flight!

The Week that was...Natural Learning | Happiness is hereArt is always big on the agenda and they created a new technique called ‘rain painting’ using squeeze bottles and watching the paint drip down the page.

The Week that was... Natural Learning | Happiness is here

Some chalk drawing on the trampoline. ‘Mum, I wrote Bob!’ – 3 year old.

The Week that was... Natural Learning | Happiness is here

You’re never too young to make some art!

The Week that was... Natural Learning | Happiness is here

Preparations for Father’s Day began.

The Week that was...Natural Learning | Happiness is here

The Week that was... Natural Learning | Happiness is here

Just when I was thinking they hadn’t been interested in maths a lot lately, this was found in the play room.

The Week that was...Natural Learning | Happiness is hereAs usual, there was lots of imaginary play. This is a playground for the fairies. Very symmetrical!

The Week that was...Natural Learning | Happiness is herePlay silks, Australian animal figurines, and homemade story stones.

The Week that was... Natural Learning | Happiness is here

Adding some shells and wooden shapes to the block area inspired some new play and storytelling.

The Week that was... Natural Learning | Happiness is here

And the most exciting news…our smallest family member learnt to crawl!!

Next week we are looking forward to being healthy again and getting out of the house to play with friends!

Comments





September 8, 2014 at 9:54 pm

A really beautiful week Sara. The colours in your photos are always so breathtaking. I can’t believe your sunflowers are growing so well already. We just planted ours last week and still I think we might have planted them too early; think we might get more frost.

I love the picture of your littlest on the trampoline. But I think my favourite is Miss 5 sitting at the table making father’s day presents. Your spaces are so beautiful.



September 10, 2014 at 8:40 pm

I truly admire the way you approach self-directed learning with your kids! I feel like learning really is an important skill to master, especially for children



September 14, 2014 at 8:24 pm

Love the bee picture! There’s a wonderful calmness that emanates throughout the whole series. Can I come live with you guys?? x



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