200531 bread pudding play learning

may 31

  bread pudding: who knew? only having had it at a restaurant, i assumed it needed special care to reproduce. but last night i had a quarter loaf of raisin bread going stale, so indre and i turned it into pudding. all the ingredients were common pantry items and the prep was no-tricks easy. into the oven for 45 minutes and magic! tdf. (to die for!) we will all be eyeing the bread loaves and making sure some goes stale often! 

 play and learning:  my grandchildren are fortunate to have each other just now.. there are so many only children who are lonely without companions their own age. for those children, an extended covid group would be valuable, to include another child with whom they could get together. the parents could exchange babysitting so they themselves could get some down time. this bubble-family allowance is granted in newfoundland and new brunswick, although it worries me a little because of the doubling up of contacts with the outside world [see post 200423 covid group scout] and families are finding it difficult to choose one relative or family over another. in addition, we are four adults, for the children and for our own support. 

  robin and indre are developing a better play relationship with practice, as they rely solely on each other for peer play. their bond is developing apace as they spend so much time connected. in the slow-wave time of pandemic life the unstructured hours allow the deeper development of ideas and make-believe, the creation of more complicated games and game props. (time to make hats, makeshift tents and castles.) they also have nick and i on hand to assist them and help with clean-up (eyes roll!). k and tamar have their own jobs and contribute in other ways.

home-schooling, or in our case, home learning, is happening in every home these days and i am interested to see if it will catch on after this is over. every project the children take on involves some aspect of learning, writing and reading when they need a sign for a door, or making a homemade story-book. they are constantly adding, writing and reading. they measure paper and dolls and cars, they match shapes and colours. hand-eye coordination and physical development thrive in opportunities to spend half an hour with a ball and a stick almost daily. robin loves his new abilities to count and read and uses them spontaneously every chance he gets. indre relishes her ability to read a newspaper comic, or my texts over my shoulder, or a book with robin. (trying to encourage respect for the privacy of others and their devices, not easy with a curious and intelligent eight-year-old. but she and her brother have learned early that purses and dresser drawers are private ((and some body-parts,too!)) so i am confident that they will get the privacy of devices one day.) 

  cooking, which we have more time to share with the children, is a chance to read, do arithmetic, practice kitchen and food safety, and learn nutrition and cooperation. they develop their dexterity with knives and familiarity with all the equipment involved in meal preparation. since indre turned eight, she is suddenly more capable of sustaining the interest to follow a recipe through and of doing a lot of the prep on her own, so when her apple crisp and bread pudding come to table and disappear it is its own reward. robin can put together a delicious and creative salad if he is given a cutting board, a knife,fruit and veg, and a salad bowl. children enjoy eating their own creations. we began knife practice with them almost as soon as they could hold one, so now they are quite competent and accidents rarely happen.

  on our daily walks i share my enjoyment of the flowers and trees and teach them their names and properties (when i know them) and we see and hear birds which they are learning to recognize by sight and sometimes voice. 

  central to this all-day learning environment is the bonding that happens between children and grown-ups when they interact and stay mentally and emotionally connected to each other. (physical contact also very necessary.)  as teachers are saying, who want to see synchronous on-line teaching, time spent with adults who care for them is the channel for learning and the more adults the better. it is how humans learn. knowledge, but also learning to trust the adults' disciplines (they do what is asked of them, because they feel safe and in tune with that person.) to trust their teachings, their ethics and their authenticity. this last is neither more nor less than barbara coloroso's "mean what you say, say what you mean". this can be as general an adage as "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." and apply to all communication. 

btw (by the way) : we don't live with the brady bunch! sometimes we yell. sometimes the kids fight. sometimes we all need a break!