Lesson 4: Home Preparation
Strewing
"Giving someone 25 pieces of information in five minutes is only useful if the recipient is very actively engaged in the situation. If they're not alert and curious, giving one piece of information is a waste of time. So for that reason I think it's better to provide clues and let others pick them up, rather than making an appointment with a person for the purpose of attempting clue-insertion." - Sandra Dodd, radical unschooling advocate.
‘Strewing,’ as unschooling mother and advocate Sandra Dodd calls it, refers to the placement of objects and learning materials around the house where children will discover them. At my house, this may involve rolling a fresh area of paper over the easel, setting out colored pencils, placing some children’s encyclopedias on a low shelf, or setting out a bowl of rocks. For older children, it may involve putting out new books, workbooks, games, or videos, or making available any other object or material that might interest your children. You then change these items from time to time.
Many parents already rotate toys in and out of areas where their children play. This practice keeps even old toys fresh and interesting. Your child’s interest may be sparked anew after rediscovering a toy or possession he or she hasn’t seen in a while. This can cut down the number of new toys that you buy. At my house, we rotate toys, books, videos, and arts and crafts media. My daughter waits eagerly each time I go into the back room where we store things.
Interesting objects can be borrowed from the library, from friends and family, or purchased inexpensively from used or discount sources. Items need not be specifically educational to spark interest in your children. River rocks could lead to many areas of interest including geology, geography, energy, fossils, etc. Old toys kept by a grandparent could lead to interests in genealogy, history, toy-making, technology, etc. The recent gift from a grandparent of an old set of silverware that required polishing sparked my daughter’s interest in metals.
My two-year-old daughter often surprises me by becoming interested in possessions of mine that I would never have guessed she would find interesting. She asked me to hand her a deck of tarot cards that I kept out of her reach, unintentionally. After looking through them, she asked for the accompanying book. She then proceeded to match each card to its description page in the book. I won’t try to guess what she was learning from this activity, but I know that no one is immune to some thoughts about the archetypal images on the cards.
An unschooling support group, local or online, can be a great source of strewing ideas. The Yahoo! Group, Always Unschooled, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AlwaysUnsc... recently posted a thread on strewing ideas. One poster made the point that the items you strew should be chosen because they are interesting, intriguing, cool, not because of their potential educational value. The same poster also made the point that an interesting item can be made un-fun when a parent steps in to show the kids how to use it. Another poster made the point that strewing doesn’t have to involve things, it can also involve experiences. Specific items mentioned in the thread included art and craft kits and books, magazines, musical instruments, CDs, DVDs, cards, games, sports equipment.
Sandra Dodd extends ‘strewing’ to taking her children places where they can discover things they may not have otherwise discovered. These places include garage sales, old stores, new stores, flea markets, vacant lots, nature, etc.
My daughter seems equally excited about a trip to a new department store as to the zoo or other recreational destination. I remember the sense of exploration and discovery that ‘window shopping’ provided me and my siblings when we were children. I suspect my daughter experiences similar feelings even when we go for a walk taking a different route than the time before. The world is full of possibilities for our children.
