I donāt watch the vlogs so Iām commenting based on what I read here. Sarah saying children āonly playā in nurseries is correct in the way that it is seen as young children learn best through play, although they will have circle times and little phonics sessions too. However, what she doesnāt seem to realise is the play is structured in a way that the children are learning all the time. Iāve worked in a day care nursery for many years and most recently in nursery and reception in a school and activities are planned very much around play because there are so many skills the children can learn and develop while playing.
Role play: Add a notebook and pen so they can write messages when they talk on the phone, make a sign to say open and closed, write menus and price lists so develop mark-making and writing. Story-making. Speech and language development while they take on the role of a character within their story. Multi-cultural awareness by including recipe books, clothes, food items, decorations.
Building blocks: Not only are they developing creative and imaginative skills but theyāre learning the science and technology behind building eg. what balances and how to improve the balance. Sizes, shapes, weights. Problem solving skills. Theyāre story-making and communicating their ideas. A skilled adult could guide them to consider forming repeating patterns with the blocks or use observational skills to look at a picture of a real eg. castle and think of ways to adapt their model.
And then youāve got all the social and emotional learning within just these two activities!
So all this learning where a child is āonly playingā. She infuriates me so much. And early writing skills develop by children painting at easels, climbing, riding bikes, sand and water play, threading. A child needs to develop muscles in their arms before theyāre able to grip a pencil and manipulate it to write. When do we ever see Jace climbing, painting at an easel, chalking on pavements, playing with sand and water. Heās usually stuck in the house all day, sitting in the car or shopping!
And while Iām here, why why why why do they not visit a library (well, we all know why, Lazy and the creeps donāt value education and books in the slightest.) Using a library is FREE Lazy, you donāt need to pay money to read library books. Can you believe that Lazy, youāre getting something for free! Isla and Isabelle would love finding books to read and I can bet Esme, although she doesnāt like reading, would love finding books about crochet, crafts, knitting, art which sheād love looking through. I. Do. Not. Understand. why she wonāt use a library. She calls herself a home educator (sorry, home schooler) yet drastically limits how many books her children get to read
Oh that was a rather long post wasnāt it. Sorry!
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