A Place For Formal Instruction

Whenever I'm asked when and how we incorporate formal instruction into life learning, I always say "When it flows... and however it fits." It has to fit. Here's a perfect example of how this whole life learning thing works and where formal instruction fits in. 

Sitting around a few nights ago in our pj's, having a chat about where we would like to travel to next, the subject of latitude and longitude came up. Seems we all had something in common, none of us could define them. For them it was because they've never been exposed to the concept and for me it was a far too common case of simply having forgotten the fifth grade lesson I endured on the subject at a time when it meant absolutely nothing to me. I retained the information being taught only long enough to pass a standardized test. Of course I've long since forgotten, until now. 

It was with sheer enthusiasm that we all dove in and participated in this very interesting geography lesson. Miss Evan ran for her tiny but useful globe and Mister Twister hurried off to fetch the worksheets I printed to guide us.

Together we read the definitions and proceeded to work through the attached problems to ensure full understanding of how to calculate latitude and longitude, how to estimate distance between locations on a map using the 111km rule and how to read and determine coordinates. I must say, it was hard to believe I ever passed any test on this subject. I had very little recollection of it and found myself a bit flustered; Tristan had to clarify the proper way to calculate for me. Initially I had the entire length of South America being 600 km! 

Good thing he has great common sense/reasoning skills. He was able to notice something was off immediately with my calculation. I love the way he presented it to me too... he didn't simply blurt out what I was doing wrong. He asked me the distance between home and Toronto, then he asked me to point to both locations on the globe. Then he suggested I take another look at the size of South America and perhaps change my answer. Surprisingly, the kid might make a great teacher one day :)

Not only did we complete those but we continued on, taking turns giving the coordinates of places we've visited. At this point they were still pretty engaged so we started a game (100% initiated by the children) in which we spun the globe, randomly touched a spot, estimated the lat/long and then properly calculated to see how accurate our estimations were. 

I finally got it! (I ended up estimating my current position on the map within 2 degrees of my actual location.) Miss Evan (and the dog) lost interest at that point so I continued this game for a while with Tristan, each of us eagerly helping the other calculate our answers. We had a riot, it was a great way to spend an evening and although there was learning involved, even formal learning (anything involving a worksheet is formal as far as I'm concerned) we all had fun, no one complained or felt forced to participate against their will. Evan was allowed to drop out of the activity when she felt like leaving, no pressure to stay. 

The benefit to this is that she now has grasped the fundamentals of the subject in such a way that she'll be far more likely to retain it. We can continue building on her new knowledge as she shows interest. It has proven time and again to be a far more effective way of learning. 

This is just one example of the many opportunities for a little formal instruction. Usually, kids are none the wiser either. When recounting their evening to grandma the next day, I over heard them simply describing a lot of fun and games, not a word about "school work". Exactly how it should be :)