Discovery Corners?

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  • May 4, 2016 at 10:20 am
    Morgan Conner
    Participant

    I am reading the Clarkson’s WholeHearted Education book right now and am feeling inspired by the chapter on creating a learning environment. But I need to be sure I am not just getting caught up in the moment (I tend to do that).

    My oldest is 10, my youngest is 2 with 3 more in between. I have a large dining/school room (we do eat down there but only at dinner time). I also have a large sunporch. I have done some figuring & measuring and could possibly create several discovery corners for very little money (but it would take considerable time to rearrange it all). I could create:

    • drawing/design/art area
    • engineering/building area
    • music area
    • audio/listening area
    • geography area (think maps, puzzles, magazines)
    • math manipulative/game area
    • nature study area
    • reading corner

    The only toys my kids have available are dress up, dolls, and stuffed animals (and their accessories). Playsets, games, and any item with multiple pieces is packed away due to the mess they make (if unsupervised the 2 year old and even some of the older ones will just dump out everything!)

    Right now I have most of this stuff jam packed in a closet bc the kids are quite messy. I *think* if I made these spaces now that we could spend our month off (June) practicing keeping them clean/organized.

    When I read “For the Children’s Sake” I was quite convicted about allowing spaces and messes for the kids. I am more minimalist in my décor, school stuff, and toys mainly bc of the mess. In comparison to my friends I probably have half the stuff they do-at least out in sight haha (I don’t mean that in a bragging sort of way-just wanted to make the point that we aren’t already overflowing with stuff in these rooms). I already feel like I spend so much time cleaning and I am afraid these discovery corners/learning areas will just turn in to one more thing to clean. Then again I would love for my kids to have access to all the neat learning stuff I have packed away.

    So what would you do?

    And do any of you have these types of discovery corners/learning areas? Have you ever tried this?

    May 4, 2016 at 8:31 pm
    nebby
    Participant

    On one hand I think having a lot of the things you list accessible is great. On the other, the idea of a learning environment in that way is more Montessori than CM. For CM it’s more about an atmosphere than an environment if that makes sense. It’s more of a feeling than having discovery center type things. There is a recent thread about atmosphere that has some wonderful comments.

    May 9, 2016 at 8:02 am
    Morgan Conner
    Participant

    Thank you nebby for setting me straight! After I read your reply I had to remind myself of what my goal is for my homeschool. While I think some form of discovery corners can be integrated and be useful it’s not what I truly want for my family.

    The thread on atmosphere is very good-thank you for bringing it to my attention.

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