Fun Summer Learning Time 💡

Fun Summer Learning Time 💡

We are well on our way into summer break and I can already feel the craziness of the kids increasing. Additionally, given COVID and all the back and forth between online learning and in-school learning (at least for us), it didn't seem like the greatest year my kids have ever had for advancing their understanding of the Universe and everything in it.


So I can't think of a better time to take the education of my kids a bit more into my own hands and reinvigorate my "Learning Time" program.


Table of Contents


Learning Discussion
Spreadsheet Award Check
Resources
Impromptu Learning Time
Learning Time Field Trips


I've been trying to jam Learning Time into the schedule for many years and have had ups and downs with its success and frequency.


For a while I was trying to come up with fancier names for this but realized that I want the name to appeal to a very young audience (my kids). For this reason I actually think the "temporary" name I came up with years ago, "Learning Time", is a great name. It also separates itself from the concept of school a bit by not including words "School", "Academy", "University", and other such words. This is good because I want to keep Learning Time fun and directed by the kids as much as possible, which in certain cases school doesn't always do well.


I should mention that Learning Time is a work in progress. Please let me know if you have any other techniques you use to teach your kids or suggestions for improvement!


Learning Discussion


Appreciation of Houses vs. Depreciation of Computers
Appreciation of Houses vs. Depreciation of Computers

I knew I was going to have a bit of extra time with the kids this week so on Sunday night I jotted down a quick list of a few topics I feel knowledgeable enough in to teach my kids about. For me the broad topics were math, science, technology, business, and life. I might not be that qualified on the last one, but figured it would at least get some great (and hopefully educational) discussions going.


Within each of these broad topics I came up with a few sub-topics too.


On Monday morning I brought up an old chalk board from the basement and set it up in front of the couch so my kids could feel like it was a bit of a special event. Then each kid took their turn in choosing a topic to learn about.


Once they chose a topic, I asked them what the hardest or most complicated thing they knew about that topic was, then asked a few more follow up questions to gauge their level of understanding. Once I knew this, I was able to give them one or two tidbits of info to extend that knowledge just a bit. We ended up getting into some great discussions about what math really is, exponents, the size and age of the universe, the denominations of the different coins (penny, nickel, quarter, loonie, and toonie), and the ones and tens places for counting numbers. That was all just on the first day!


Spreadsheet Award Check


Check how many digits of pi your kids know
Check how many digits of pi your kids know

Another approach I've used in the past for Learning Time is to look up the latest Spreadsheet Awards each kid has achieved and think about what they should be pretty close to achieving next. Just testing them to see what they can do often helps them advance more quickly.


For example, if they are close to learning the alphabet, asking them to sing it to see how far they get will help them improve. If they miss a letter or don't manage to sing them all, just help them out with the ones they missed and test them again the next day!


If you're not sure what they might be close to learning, here's a list of 136+ milestones and achievements to give you a few ideas:


Resources


One of the best ways to learn, especially if you're starting to run out of things that you personally know enough about to teach, is to share a wide variety of resources with your kids such as:



We've played around with Scratch, Swift Playgrounds, and a few others but honestly, I'm still searching for the best possible coding tutorial. Ideally this would be mostly free and would work towards teaching the kids a real programming language that is used commonly today. I far prefer courses that teach with activities, games, and projects that result in creating something real and useful at the end of the class. Please share your favourites with me ASAP! Thanks!


Impromptu Learning Time


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