Lest you think that either Skyla or I are living in a dream world, let me share a story. Remember how I planned to use the cool stuff at the beach to teach all kinds of things like math, comparisons, writing, story-telling, biology and all the concepts I am familiar with? Well sometimes when you are letting your child dictate their schooling, things don’t go as planned and end up beyond your comfort zone. But that’s okay. Tap into your village and roll with it.
Me: Skyla, lets write the words ‘mermaid purse’ and ‘skate’ and ‘whelk’ and ‘egg case’
Skyla: Mama, I think it would be better to make clothes for my girls and the turtles. They need hats too.
Me: Okay, but first, why don’t we do some artwork and draw pictures of the egg cases we found on the beach today.
Skyla: Mama, making clothes is art.
Me: {to myself} Shit. You’re right kid.
Me: {in real life} You know Skyla you are absolutely right. Clothing design IS a form of art. Artists design clothes.
Of course I am way outside my comfort zone here…what do I know about clothing design? I have a sewing machine and make clothes sometimes but designing?!? I don’t know any clothing designers. Then inspiration strikes…our friend Patty is a jewelry artist and designs jewelry. Jewelry=clothes right? It takes a village folks!
I show her some jewelry that Patty made and we talk about the colors, materials, and the textures. Then I show her Patty’s Etsy website. Then I am Skyla’s sous chef (I have a lot of restaurant experience but not so much with the art design world — whatever that person would be called) and I’m at the ready to help her with her materials and tape and whatever else so she can make ‘her girls’ and the turtles some clothes. We write signs for the ‘show': hat, dress, bow, sparkle. Storytelling is an easy extension.
I only hope I am just as flexible 5 years down the line when I am trying to teach her meiosis and mitosis…
It was glorious to witness - my adorable 4-yr-old granddaughter becoming a turtle on the beach and enacting the entire process from crawling from the ocean up to the dunes, digging the hole, laying the eggs, covering the eggs and returning to the sea. She was totally into it. Talk about experiential learning!
I love to observe Rebecca encouraging Skyla’s creativity. Skyla’s imagination is working all the time and I marvel at the story lines, the artistic expression and the amazing relationships she creates among “her girls”, her animals and her other characters/critters.
Okay, so I am just a proud grandmother, but I have much to be proud of.