Leah McDermott

Developing Your Natural Learner

What Are You Rushing For?

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How many times in a day do you tell your child to “hurry up?” 

Rushing out the door. Get your shoes on. Eat your dinner faster. Walk quicker. Chin up, eyes forward, let’s go! We’ve got to HURRY…..

To where? To what?

Do you stop and ask yourself what you’re rushing for? What is so important that you are pushing your child so quickly through their childhood?

And do you ever wonder why? 

Why they are moving so slowly. Why they are staring off into space.

Well…. Did you ever ask? Did you ever just STOP and try to get inside their head?

I stopped hurrying. And I asked. And these are just a few of the answers I got:

“I’m counting my peas.” (not eating dinner)

“I’m trying to decide which shoes are the best shoes.” (taking forever to get shoes on)

“I’m singing to the birds.” (lagging behind on a walk)
“I want to see if the vultures come down to see if I’m a dead animal.” (laying on the ground on a trail)

“I’m watching this worm to see how fast it can dig.” (not coming in for a bath)

Do you see what’s happening here?

Our adult brains are conditioned to move so rapidly… to hurry as quickly as possible from one activity to the next, always rushing, always thinking about the next thing and never, NEVER paying attention to the current, present, beautiful moment.

But our children? They haven’t been changed yet. They’re still curious and full of wonder. They still see the beauty in weeds and will take the time to hop over every crack in the sidewalk for miles.

And why on earth would we want to do anything but encourage them to keep that passion, that attention to detail, and the ability to SLOW DOWN and just enjoy the world around them?

In fact, we can learn a lot from watching our children. From asking ourselves why we are rushing constantly. Why we are so concerned about the next moment instead of focusing on enjoying the present one.

Ask yourself. Why? 

And ask your child. What are we doing in THIS moment? And can I join you?

Watch your world change before your eyes.
To slowing down….

This article originally appeared on Huffington Post HERE.

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Using Nature Exploration to Teach Compassion

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I love living in Oregon, where nature abounds everywhere you turn. It’s a fantastic place to be raising our two little ones, because it takes very little effort to get them in a situation where they can be outside communing with nature, freely exploring, and getting all of the amazing benefits that being outdoors has to offer.  

One of my favorite benefits that children receive by spending time in nature is that it teaches them compassion.

Studies have shown that when children spend time freely playing in nature and are given the chance to explore at their own pace, they develop understanding and compassion for others and the world around them.

The greatest thing is that this is true regardless of whether they’re playing alone or with someone else. Yes, when a child is outdoors freely exploring nature they are actually learning how to interact and care for another person even if they’re outdoors alone. Isn’t that awesome?!

This compassion extends not only to the natural world, but also to other people (including strangers) and a general compassion for all living things around them.

For example….

Last week we went on one of our many family bike rides through the park near our house. There’s a small reservoir / duck pond that my children love to visit and watch the various creatures going about their lives. Right now is the time of year when many birds have laid their eggs and are settled in on their nests. Because of this observation, my oldest son has developed a keen interest in bird life and bird watching.

We were walking around the border of this little pond and he was leading the way. There was a male goose swimming around in the pond next to us. What we didn’t realize was that he was carefully watching over the momma bird who was sitting on her nest just a few feet away! Charlie was walking in front and all of a sudden we turned a corner and he was standing an arm’s length away from the mother goose sitting on her nest!

As soon as he took that step, the daddy goose hopped up out of the water and started towards Charlie, biting at his legs and feet. Now keep in mind that Canadian geese are very large – so imagine my 4-year old Charlie standing there with a very upset male goose that’s pretty much as tall as him confronting him aggressively. In any normal circumstances any child (and even many adults) would be very frightened. I’ll admit that even for a moment I thought he was going to push Charlie into the water or start attacking his face.

But, because of the amount of time and energy that Charlie has put into spending time in nature and learning about these creatures, he knew exactly what was going on. So he calmly put his hands in the air and took a step back and said, “Okay Daddy, I know you’re just protecting your nest. It’s okay. I’ll leave… I’ll leave.” Then he looked up at me and said, “Mommy I’m going to walk around on the other side and I’ll meet you.”

I was absolutely amazed at how compassionately he handled the situation. There was no fear, no sadness, only understanding and compassion for another. I am 100% sure that he was able to handle this situation so well because of the nature-inspired learning that is a part of his everyday life. And not only does this compassion extend to the creatures that he’s learning about, but also to plant life (he’s very protective of his garden), to strangers that he meets (he loves helping his daddy with his non-profit outreach for the unhoused in our community), and to those that are close to him.

Even in our moments of sibling rivalry, simply going outside and being with nature helps to bury all of those differences, and turns my boys into the bestest of friends in an instant.

There’s so much that we can all learn from nature, but I really feel that compassion for another is one of the greatest.

So the next time you find yourself frustrated with a personal situation, or the kids are at each other’s throats, or you and your partner are at a crossroads, take a breath and go outside and just learn compassion.

I’ll see you outside

<3 Leah

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5 Elements of a Successful Child-Led Learning Experience

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Child-Led Learning. At first glance, it seems like a wonderfully simple way to educate your child – find out what they are interested in, and teach them that! Easy peasy, right?

But… when many families begin to implement this type of learning, they often become quickly frustrated:

“My child’s interests change all the time! How am I supposed to plan for anything?”

“How in the world can I come up with enough exciting activities to keep my child engaged if they stay interested in the same topic for a long time?”

“I feel like we’re doing the same thing every day.”

These are EXACT snippets of conversations I have had with families who really want to follow their child’s interests with learning, but feel overwhelmed by the actual implementation of it.

So, I’m here to tell you:

CHILD-LED LEARNING CAN BE EASY, FUN, AND DONE WITH A PLAN.

And in this post, I’m going to teach you the 5 essential elements to having a successful child-led learning experience!

1- Engaging Learning Space

It is always best to start with your environment. You want to make sure that you have set up a learning space where your child can be focused, engaged, and excited to learn and interact with what is around them. Take special care to avoid overwhelming your child with too many “things” or activities all at once.  Think about it this way: if you were going to make a meal but your kitchen counters were cluttered with dishes, and your recipe books were strewn all over the place, and none of your ingredients were in the right spots – would you be able to focus and enjoy preparing that meal? Probably not. The same is true for you child and their learning space. Keep it simple and provide them with multiple opportunities to engage and explore at their own pace.

2- Know Your Child’s True Interests

This takes a bit of detective work. It isn’t just asking your child, “Hey Jimmy, what do you want to learn about today?” and then flying by the seat of your pants with it. Nope – not at all. You need to observe your child’s play, listen to their conversations with friends and siblings, watch for trends in the questions they ask you, see which types of books or videos they’re most interested in, etc. What trends or themes do you notice your child consistently bringing up and questioning? Spend a few days really honing in on your child’s play and conversations. Basically – once you start to pay close attention, you’ll be able to pretty quickly identify the topics that your child is genuinely showing an interest in, as opposed to what they just need a quick answer to in order to satisfy their curious minds.

3- Background Knowledge

Equally as important as understanding your child’s current interest is understanding their background knowledge about the topic. It isn’t really enough to just know the particular topic that you want to focus on with your child’s learning, but in order to have a very personal and child-led learning experience you want to make sure you’re starting in the right place. Your child’s background knowledge is everything they already know (or think they know) about a particular topic. So, once you’ve narrowed down the interest your child has a desire to learn about, you want to begin asking your child some questions about that topic to determine what they already know and what their current misconceptions about the topic are. Then when you make your plans, you can start with addressing the misconceptions to lay a solid foundation for discovering more about this topic; and by understanding what your child already knows about the topic, you are better able to start at the level where your child is ready to learn from.

4- Focused Activities

Once you have determined your child’s interests and their background knowledge, it is time for you to put your plans together for open-ended activities that are focused on your child’s unique learning style, preference for showing you how they learn, and individual needs. Is your child a more physical learner who enjoys learning through movement? Plan outdoor activities that allow them to act things out and discover in hands-on ways. Have a visual learner who prefers to express themselves creatively? Make sure to provide access to art supplies and multiple opportunities to express their knowledge. By knowing your child’s learning preferences, along with their interests and background knowledge, you have all of the tools that you need to come up with a plan for an incredible child-led learning experience!

5- Assessment/Observation

You thought you were done, huh? Nope… not yet! 😛 A super important piece of the puzzle that many parents and teachers often forget is the observation period during and after the activities. This is such a rich time for discovering what is going on in your child’s head, and (super important!) learning where you should take the experience next. You see, when your child is learning something that they are really, genuinely interested in, something so beautiful is going to happen…. this excitement and passion for the topic is going to grow and transform into something new. And as long as you are following along and observing your child’s discussions, creations, and observations, you will be able to stay one step ahead and knowing exactly what to plan for next. This step, though often overlooked, is actually the most important part of a truly successful child-led learning experience! Don’t skip it!

And there you have it! Follow those 5 steps and you will have loads of fun and enjoyment creating a learning plan that is based solely on your child’s unique interests and learning needs. How incredible is that?

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