AMNH and Strewing the Arctic

I generally hear 2 worries concerning the unschooling of P. What about socialization (already addressed in a previous post and a fairly dull question since he's around all sorts of people of all ages all of the time) and how will he learn if you don't make him? Some believe children don't have an internal fire to learn, they need to be bribed or pushed into it. Sadly, it seems true that this fire can be squelched in a wide array of ways, but fortunately, also nurtured. In the unschooling community, one such igniter is dubbed "strewing." Basically, you leave new ideas or objects out to ignite their imagination and natural curiosity on a regular basis. While at 3 this doesn't even seem quite necessary for P (anyone who's spent a day with a three year old and their endless procession of "why's" can understand why this is true) we've started strewing as a matter of habit just because he (in his words) "gets a kick" out of discovering new things.

The past 2 weeks we've strewed the arctic. There are some great books out with penguin and polar bear stories. Some just feature the animals with little factual basis, but some have great info mixed in brilliantly with interesting tales and maybe even a glossary. P's learned about the northern lights, the melting polar ice caps, saving energy, the food chain, indigenous peoples, and various arctic animals. His understanding of mammal vs non-mammal has really been strengthened and he seems to be finding a little more peace with the idea that omnivores or carnivores aren't "mean," just necessary in the wild.

This was all supplemented by lots of pretend play with his little arctic animal toys (a polar bear, a narwhal, an arctic wolf, various whales, a fur seal, a walrus, penguins and puffins etc) where some ate the others, some helped one another and some gave birth and nursed. I knew the theme was resonating with him when I wore a white shirt one day and he said "your shirt looks like the arctic mama." :)

We also watched a video from national geographic about the polar bear and the walrus. The footage was amazing and P grabbed all of his local wildlife to watch with him and then act out scenes. It was a much more rewarding experience than any Pixar film that leaves him slack-jawed in awe for 90 minutes. There were so many questions that turned into plots and plans for the week following the show.

We froze small toys in ice cube trays and then let them float like icebergs in the sink. We watched them melt to see the ice turn to water and the water level (imperceptibly) rise. We danced to music like polar bears trying to break the ice looking for seals. We fished off the dock of his house with a magnet string and S hook fish to feed either his seal or me as a Neanderthal (he can't bring himself to even pretend to eat meat!)

Then we went to the Natural History Museum again, taking his cousin Sean this time, and the week's theme seemed to really bring a lot of the displays to life for him. Polar bears seem so fierce, but they can't easily take a walrus? Standing beside the two windows he could see that a walrus really is double the size of the bear, a fact he had heard but was now experiencing too. It was so fun to see him put it all together. He could often stand and absorb a display for much longer than I - I would have to remind myself to not interrupt his study with "Oh! Look at that one over there!" In fact, as I breezed past some dinosaur bones he asked me why there was a balloon in one. I had no idea what he meant until I looked for a good long while and saw a white helium balloon, floating inside a rib cage. And as I saw children hushed and rushed from exhibit to exhibit in their school groups I was so thankful that P had the time to make his discoveries and keep his fire burning bright - if I could just shut my mouth and be still :)

P.s. The top photo is his favorite "Squid and the Whale" display.