We all have them. The days when the lessons seem…flat. When the kids motivation level feels like you are slogging through molasses in February. When you feel overwhelmed by all the rest of life and it’s so hard to concentrate. Days when it seems your little students have forgotten everything they’ve learned thus far this year. Every. Thing. On those days, we congratulate ourselves just for getting it done. Just get it done. Check those boxes off. Fill out the worksheets. Go through the motions of education. Never mind passion. No discovery today. We’ll skip art because we want to cut to the chase, toss all the “bells and whistles” and be done.
Do you know that kind of day? Me too.
I’ll tell you what, though. We are so blessed in this age of technology! We have abundant-to-overflowing resources right at our fingertips. For example, our “flat” subject yesterday was science. Reading about fossil fuels. *yawn* I prayed for a little creativity to help my 4th grader to continue to love learning (which is #1 in my mission statement). I found some cute videos on youtube about fossil fuels and how coal is formed. We detoured a little in discussing fossils (which are cool ANY time) and exoskeletons (and she was inspired to build one for her teddy bear out of toilet paper rolls and a tissue box). I showed my girl some photos of a dear friend in Alaska, who regularly harvests coal right off the beach in front of her house. That is so unusual and VERY cool. And I searched for my free coal samples that I’d sent away for last year…to no avail. They are “in a box somewhere”. I have aspirations of visiting a nearby coal mine soon. That will be fun!
Anyway, you get the idea. Google (or whatever your preferred search engine is) is your best bud. I’ve found so many neat things just by typing in a topic and “free printable” or “free worksheet” or “free lapbook”. Don’t be afraid to stray from the text book. Kindle that love for learning. Yes, you’ll hear that a LOT here!
The Schoolin' Swag Blog 