Hands-on Work

I don’t really do crafts because we don’t have room to keep them or the heart to throw them away. But we use our hands all the time. I think Charlotte Mason said we should use “books and things”. My kids would die if I had them only lilstening to books all day. I’ve tried it. Even when they are listening, sometimes I have to have them drawing pictures of what we’re reading. So I use the real calendar, the real clock, real money, measuring tools, real laundry to fold, etc to teach. Life is real, and they need to learn with things. It’s much more fun that way. Just today, I was counting money with my 7 and 8 yr. olds; and I thought how glad I am that they weren’t looking at pictures of money in a workbook. It’s much better to put their hands on everything they can.

We have bought a few math manipulatives in the past, so I use them now. But I don’t think I would buy much of that kind of stuff any  more. It clutters the house, and it’s never where I can find it anyway. I also would never plan out big projects for hands on learning. I don’t think the amount of learning you gain is worth it. For example, I saw the plans from an online school for building a detailed water treatment plant! That would have taken us weeks. I don’t think it would have been a wise use of time.

So put your hands on everything you can, and keep it simple. It usually isn’t too hard to think of something to do to illustrate a lesson–in fact the kids will think of some way for you most of the time.

Hands-on projects are a great way to narrate!

Draw pictures, make a diarama (super fun!), create a board game based on a story, build something from your lessons (Viking ship, castle, pyramid, train, etc), make a map, try a handicraft that goes along with your studies (illuminate a manuscript, spin, carve, etc.), make a rubber stamp that goes along with something you are learning (such as a leaf stamp of a tree you learned to identify), make paper dolls of characters in your read-alouds, put on a skit based on something you are reading and include customes and props….the possibilities are endless. Once you get the ball rolling, your children will probably come up with their own ideas.