5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials- Curiosity

Welcome to day two of Homeschooling Essentials for our personal homeschool! If you missed day 1, you can read it by clicking here.

Today, we are exploring the idea of curiosity in our homeschool. Webster's 1828 Dictionary defines curiosity, n. as: 1. A strong desire to see something novel, or to discover something unknown, either by research or inquiry; a desire to gratify the senses with a sight of what is new or unusual, or to gratify the mind with new discoveries; inquisitiveness.
3. Accuracy; exactness; nice performance; curiousness; as the curiosity of workmanship.
4. A nice experiment; a thing unusual or worthy of curiosity

With all do respect to Mr. Webster, our family has turned curiosity into a verb. Can we do that? Well, we have. :-)

The Action of Curiosity

Sometimes we satisfy our curiosities by researching about them in books, going on field trips, talking with people who know about these wonders... whatever they may be at the time. Sometimes what we do is explore things and happen upon something that strikes our fancy. There are so many fascinating things to discover about! God has such an awesome imagination!

A strong desire to see something novel... 

 

(Photo used with permission from Dreamer.)

It's innate. Can you feel it, too? We have got to get our fix for the outdoors! It's so amazing... being enveloped in nature with our children. Our family makes a great team; the varying heights and the unique lens each of them has leads us to such enjoyable discoveries of novel things.

Do you see what Dreamer sees? As we strolled along, she was busy looking up at the tree tops. Suddenly we here, "Mom!! I see a tree that looks like an elephant! Can I take a picture?!" What a novel way to view this tree formation! Now, this likely will never really inspire her to discover some great thing that will help mankind- except for sharing her enthusiasm for nature, her unique lens she views the world through, and the fun of being curious. That's all well and good for this mama... I know she has a love for learning. :-)

A desire to gratify the senses with a sight of what is new or unusual...

 

It doesn't have to be new or unusual to the whole world... just to us individually. 

One of the key responsibilities we have as parents is to help give our children the opportunities to let them be curious in healthy ways while also establishing certain boundaries. Super Busy enjoyed observing the fungi on this log but he was not allowed to touch it.

Or to gratify the mind with new discoveries; inquisitiveness...

 

Look at how cool Cool Daddy is! He brought along a microscope (thanks to some special people... you know who you are!) on a nature walk and created an outdoor lab for us! We inquired of so many things, "What new discoveries will we find when we examine these under the microscope?!" Oh what beautiful unexpected things we are surprised with- little gifts of intricate loveliness woven by our Creator God...

It was too wet for us to take nature journals along, so we took our specimens home with us. This way they could sketch what they saw when peering through the scope.

Accuracy; exactness; nice performance; curiousness; as the curiosity of workmanship...

 

It could be the workmanship of our Creator God. The endless textures, colors, shapes, sizes, the infinity of all things He made... it shouts His Principle of Individuality! It's not some faint whisper we have to strain to hear... it's a creation choir praising with every fiber its being to our Maker.

"Let all things praise the name of the Lord, because they were created at his command." Psalm 148:5

A nice experiment; a thing unusual or worthy of curiosity.

 

 

I have been speechless at some of the things I learn either along side of or from my children. We learn some of the most interesting things by following our own curiosities. Some of these interests are things which surface later in life. I had no interest whatsoever in dissecting critters when I was a youth; I was too sensitive toward the idea then. However, it's different for me now and there is so much to learn from examining God's creation in this manner.

(Photo used with permission by Scientist.)

Or check out an idea that Scientist has! I am amazed at his creativity! He played around with the concept of creating a laser beam effect and he came up with his trade secret which I am sworn to keep... secret. I can't fathom how he even came up with what objects to pull together to create such an effect! He had so much fun experimenting with lighting, distance, objects, etc. and look at the effects of his curiosity.

Whether it's something they learned or experimented with on their own, I find this journey of homeschooling my children inspiring! The Lord has used them to teach me so much in so many areas of life! 

Curiosity, do you nurture it? Do you enjoy it? It's an important teacher...

Blessings!

Be certain to read other posts for 5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials by TOS Members. 

81. Erica @ Be the One
82. Ellen @ Grace Tells Another Story
83. Jenn @ Treasuring Life’s Blessing
84. Christine @ Our Homeschool Reviews
85. Michelle @ Delightful Learning
86. Sharon @ Life with the Tribe
87. Hillary @ Our Homeschool Studio
88. Melanie @ FinchNWren
89. Brittney @ Mom’s Heart

- See more at: http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/5-days-of-homeschooling-essentials-blog-hop/#sthash.CBhFLvRQ.dpuf

My Wonderful Team for This Series: 

  Day Two Posts

 

#81. Erica @ Be The One

#82. Ellen @ Grace Tells Another Story

#83. Jenn @ Treasuring Life's Blessings

(day one)
 

#84. Christine @ Our Homeschool Reviews

#85.  Michelle @ Delightful Learning

#86. Sharon @ Life With the Tribe

#87. Hillary @ Our Homeschool Studio

(day one)

 

#89. Melanie @ FinchNWren