I love my job. I think it is because there is so much to watch and think about. I get so much energy from the children. It’s like their excitement is contagious. It feels like you are somehow involved in the most exciting project ever and there is no boss to take you back to…
Tag: Conflict
and they will come
We have just been at our version of school – it’s school like in the way that you HAVE to be there early in the morning until 3pm and that there are lots of other children there… but however it is a holiday programme so other than an obligation to come when the whistle is…
rules
H and one of her friends were having a water fight one evening, for ages and ages.. It turned out it was a highly structured game with rules, they decided rules would be a “good idea”. No two cans No throwing if opponent paused Be fair Only throw at players Be gentle No throwing cans…
War
At the holiday programme the kids like to play war “lots of war… raaaaa” and we let them. It looks like chaos, lots of kids running around with long bamboo sticks and a few with bows and arrows all pointed at people with the accompanying loud roars. Hardly anyone gets hurt, and none badly. We…
a little responsibility
There is some sort of quiet revolution happening… a revolution of responsibility, or perhaps it is initiative. That toothbrush made it’s way to the recharger with absolutely no input from me. Helena identified the problem, worked out the solution and took the initiative in solving it. That has been happening a bit recently. She makes…
More on water slides..
When adults run a water slide it looks like this: One at a time Evenly allocated water Not much soap Adult does the heavy work Lasts maybe an hour Orderly que down the side Losts of waiting No walking up the slide Waiting until the person who has been gets off the end before the…
Doing something wrong
Yesterday I was annoyed by a child that was exhibiting all the characteristics I think are important; creative, independent of body and thought, acting on their desires, go getting it, trying to make things actually happen, questioning authority, reasoning, and negotiation, but what did I do? I resorted to being ‘the authority.’ I said “no”…….
Mixed age play
When we put children in a classroom full of children the same age what happens is we reduce learning opportunities. Why do we do it? A lot of this is due to institutional structures. In Early Childhood you have to have particular ratios of adults to children which is all decided by the age of…
I am the bad guy…
It was our last day of having Helena’s friend. I had grand plans of doing all the things they liked best but they didn’t seem interested, not in my list anyway… and there is a storm raging and it’s raining. So what did they do? Making something, it kept changing. I’m not sure it was…
Cr#p my kid makes…
I have been having something of an existential crisis, again. I went to an art school years ago and have a zillion ideas. Recently I went to a gallery and it had an exhibition of the finalists in The Wallace award. I am arrogant enough (confident in my ideas and of my ability to execute…
homeschoolery 