If there’s anything I love about homeschooling, it’s the ability to take any subject of interest and simply run with it!
Just the other day a conversation about the White House somehow turned into a conversation about the secret service, which turned into another conversation about the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, and then, before we knew it, we were taking a virtual tour of Air Force One, studying the presidential limo, and learning all about the training and responsibilities of secret service agents. My kids were fascinated.
And I love it when learning can run free this way! Pursuing kids’ interests, even random ones, engenders learning in such an easy, natural way.
But that doesn’t mean I can go chasing off into left field after every subject or question that strikes my kiddos’ fancy! If I did that, we would never get math done. Never.
But that’s why I like having question boards.
I purchased these simple magnetic whiteboards for about $3 a piece and hung one for each of my kids. Their purpose has evolved some with time: At first they were individual homeschooling memo boards, but soon they morphed into personal message boards and then into canvases for impromptu artwork.
But lately these boards have become a great place for jotting down those random, sometimes off-the-wall questions my kids will ask during our homeschool day, like, “Why do our cheeks turn red when we come in from the cold?”
Umm. Because… well…
I love the times we can drop everything and pursue my child’s interest in a bug or an inventor or the origin of the word ‘Tuesday’, but sometimes we just aren’t in a place where we can stop everything else to learn about an off-the-subject interest or question. Like red cheeks on cold days.
But I want my kids asking questions! I want them to know there are answers to the things they’re curious about. Not only that, but I want them to learn for themselves how to find answers to their questions! After all, I won’t always be there to help them, so they need to know how and where to find information for themselves.
But the question boards have become a great storage place for those random points of interest I want to return to when we have time.
When one of my kids raises a question we can’t get to right at that moment, I jot it down on their question board. I also add questions of my own or note subjects I want to talk about as a group when we can find the time. Sometimes we can cover the issue that day, but other times it may be a week or more before we can fit it in. That’s fine! The question, (or note,) stays on the board until we have the time to discuss it.
This is So. Not. Complicated. Often it involves nothing more than a quick Google search and 5 minutes worth of study! But my kids love seeing their questions go up on the board. It shows them their interests matter! And I love how they are coming to understand that asking questions leads to finding answers, which most of us would agree is the key to life-long learning!
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This is a fabulous idea. This has been a problem of mine for a long time. What an easy solutipn! Thanks!
It's simple, but a big help to somebody as forgetful as me! Hope you can use it in your homeschool, too.
This could solve my issue of saying, "We'll have to research that," and then we forget. Good idea!
I have a confession to make: My son asked me one of those random questions on the way home from the library today. My response? "We'll have to put that on your Question board!" And now I've forgotten what it was! Maybe I need whiteboards in my van, too! 😉
Oh, this is a great idea! My son is always asking these kinds of questions. It's great, but sometimes I forget to research them!
I STILL can't get to every question — kids ask A LOT of questions — but this definitely helps us get to the most interesting ones!
Question boards are great! but you're questions sound like they're straight from Are you smarter than a 5th grader- because I won't be able to answer any without googling first ! (hehe)
Would love to see your posts in the Practical Mondays Link Up:)
Well I could answer 3 of them pretty easily. Monocular vision…not so much! But that's exactly the kind of thing Google is made for!
What a wonderful and simple idea! My kids often grab my phone and look up their own answers on Google but this is perfect for when we don't have time.
Well it just sets it aside for later, which helps me. I’m terrible about “rabbit trails” as it is, so random questions can REALLY derail me sometimes. But this makes question discussion a bit more intentional when we do get around to it.
Hope it can work for you!
What a clever idea! My kids love when I leave a joke on our chalkboard to discover in the morning. But this is another angle…love it!
Oh, adding a joke is a great idea! Actually, putting riddles would be a lot of fun, too. Hmm…I’m thinking we could take this question board idea in a lot of directions!
This is a wonderful idea Tanya! I homeschool a teenager and my favorite part of the day is what we call “chasing the bunny trails”. I always hate when I can’t follow these questions because we really need to get through what we are working on. I’m going to find a way to make this idea of yours work in our home too. Thanks!
Sometimes I ENJOY getting sidetracked, but I can’t do it all the time or we would never get anything done! Hope this little idea will help you, Michelle!