I had never heard of strewing until I started reading The Brave Learner by Julie Bogart. (The book is incredible, by the way! I plan to do an entire post devoted to it really soon.)
Strewing is a thing in the homeschool world, but I tried it for the first time yesterday.
The idea is to leave an activity, any kind really, out on the table for your child to discover on their own. Parents should sit back and allow the child to check it out. They are free to explore and discover to their hearts content.
Yesterday morning I had a variety of transportation books, vehicle counters and PlayDough sitting out on the table. Jackson didn’t even notice it. He walked right past the activity, into my office, where he discovered some really cool construction themed Playdough and new Matchbox cars I had purchased.
He was intrigued.
I didn’t push him towards the activity I had sitting out on the table. (I feel like that’s a huge win for my Type-A self!) Instead, I let him take the lead. I told him he could play with the new items, and boy did he! He sat at the table and played for more than an hour! He has never played with Playdough that long before in his life. He didn’t ask for his Kindle, he didn’t complain and he didn’t grow frustrated with the activity.
He was happily engaged and my heart was full!
At one point he walked over to the kitchen drawer and took out a butter knife. My first instinct was to stop him, but instead I asked what he was planning to use it for.
He told me he needed to use the knife to get some of the Playdough out from under the tires on one of his trucks. I told him to be careful and watched him do his thing.
Problem solving with a butter knife.
A great moment of learning.
Turns out the butter knife was too big and he needed something smaller to get into the crevices of the truck. I handed him a few toothpicks and he went to work!
Complete focus.
Determination.
Bits and pieces of asphalt-like Playdough fell to the kitchen floor.
THIS is what I want learning to be like for him.
THIS is what I want more of our homeschool days to look like.
Engaged. Learning. Having Fun.
No frustration, tears, stress or anxiety.
After an hour of building roads out of Playdough that looked like concrete and asphalt (and driving his cars across them), he was ready to tackle his spelling words.
Our first strewing experience went really well. It was a great way to begin our day.
Jackson ended up going back to the activity two more times before the day was over.
Before bed last night, I put a new activity on the table.
I’ll let you know how it goes.