Love of Learning
Kris V. has presented some good evidence for why you shouldn’t tell your kids they’re smart. There’s more to encouraging a love of learning than just praise, though (for the kids’ abilities or efforts ). Another technique is to dive right in and learn with them!
Here’s a space scene my son Nico drew the other day when we were having dinner in a restaurant:
- Space
I had to ask in order to get the details, but this is the Sun, the Earth (with the moon revolving around it), Zurg’s Planet, and “Koosbeam” (which, according to Nico, is a volcanic planet they visited on “The Muppet Show,” but not during “Pigs in Space”).
See? Before Nico showed me this drawing, I had no idea where Zurg’s Planet and Koosbeam were with respect to the Earth. I also helped him with his drawing of the Earth by reminding him to add such details as Madagascar, England, Italy, Japan, and Sri Lanka. The cute thing is that he draws in Denmark all on his own — apparently one of his friends from school is from Denmark, so the class learned where it is. (He also draws in New Caledonia and the Galapagos Islands since they figure prominently in some of his favorite David Attenborough films.)
I’ve also contributed to the fun of learning about space by introducing him to Schoolhouse Rock:
Interplanet Janet, by Nico
I analyzed these to death when we first got the DVD (here and here), and the kids still put them on and watch them. Just the other day this one inspired an elaborate family discussion about whether Pluto is a planet. Nico insists that it is. 
Perhaps we’re getting a bit of a mix of real with imaginary, but we’re having fun.
Brian Cooksey Said,
October 12, 2008 @ 7:33 am
That is great! Nico is quite the artist. I am a big proponent of the ‘dive right in’ approach because I believe that it shows kids that learning things is fun. It also makes it a community activity and gets them used to the back-and-forth types of discussions that often lead to really cool ideas.
Keep up the great work!
chanson Said,
October 12, 2008 @ 9:04 am
Thanks Brian!
Luca Masters Said,
October 12, 2008 @ 3:05 pm
For those curious, Planet Koozbane: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyJtEq7DNH0
chanson Said,
October 12, 2008 @ 10:09 pm
Wow, thanks — that is so cute!!
I figured it was something like that. I’m not surprised Nico liked this sketch — it’s just like a nature documentary! We all just watched it together, and now he tells me he’s going to draw the Koozbanian creatures.
Rational Moms » Blog Archive » Our Visit to the Solar System! Said,
November 12, 2008 @ 12:42 am
[...] kids are really into the solar system these days. As I mentioned in Love of Learning, they’ve been drawing and coloring pictures of the solar system, and lately they’ve [...]