Lighting a Fire!!

Last week, I posted in response to a meme commenting my thoughts on the famous quote of William Butler Yeats, "Education is simply not filling the pail, but lighting the fire."





Well I did it! The blogging left me on a heart search of how exactly I could reach my 10 yr. son. He is the sweetest kid with a tender spirit, but I had run into some walls in reaching him as far as homeschooling goes. He told me he hates school! What a blow to the teacher! We have actually butted heads since he was 4 years old. I, as a public school teacher, was determined to raise a child who loved learning, books, and school. But that romance ended early. I began to ask myself what I was doing wrong. But my 7 yr. daughter as taken an excited affinity toward school. She loves it and picks up her studies quickly.





This week I decided to change things up a bit and create a lapbook. I knew that Lily would love it, but I never anticipated that G-man would go for it. We spent our mornings and afternoons finding information on rainforests and coming up with creative ways to display our findings. I will have to admit that I found Evan-Moor's teacherfilebox very helpful.





G-man presented his rainforest book at co-op on Wednesday. In class, he went from a kid who sits back and watches to a whiz raising his hand with all the answers and new information about rainforests. He even became very passionate about the deforestation of rainforests and is looking for ways to make a difference. That also led us into a discussion of politics and the role of lobbyists.





I have been so psyched about our improvements and the real learning that has taken place this week. We are going to create another lapbook in celebration of President's Day in the next couple of weeks. I hope this spark spreads in our Quests4Hope!





Pictures of Rainforest Lapbook



G-man created an anaconda you see on the left. He wrote a report in first person as if the snake is telling about himself. Lily made the leaf-cutter ant and dictated what she learned. They also included various facts about the forest floor of the rainforest.









Both children wrote poetry about the vines in the rainforest and posted them on the leaves. They also studied the Kapok tree and included information under the pod they created. I believe the most fun was learning about the jaguar who is known as the "King of the Rainforest" as he is at the top of the food chain.

The children enjoyed making drawings. G-man included a deer in the powerful jaws of his jaguar.



The 5 Chaps have started a fire!