Learning Doesn't Have to Be...

Boring.  Painful.  Irrelevant.

Learning can be better than that.  An example from my own experience unschooling my 6 year old daughter.  

We talk to each other.  We read books together.  We visit interesting places.  And in the process without directly intending it we learn a lot.

Here's just a sample of some people/places we've read and talked about over the past couple of years.  

George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Albert Einstein,  Basho, William Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth,  Tutankhamen, Nefertiti, Paul Revere, Annie Oakley.

Rome, China, Florence, Venice, Greece, England, Egypt, The Titanic, Dinosaurs, the Human Body, Stars and Planets, and more.

No, I don't give her exams.  I don't drill her.  We talk, laugh, and spend time together.  And learning happens.  At some point we may opt for more structure and more rigor.  But, she's only six years old and there's time for that.  Meanwhile, we do what comes naturally.  And, part of that is learning.  Makes you wonder if more kids could benefit from this approach.