In Our Elements! Vol II
Vol. II - the vacation edition - learning is everywhere!
Welcome to the Elements Academy newsletter, ‘In Our Elements!’
Here you’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at the magic of a child-led school (and life).
Written by Heather DiNino, Founder, Director, Middle/High Teacher, Elements Academy 🌳🌊☁️🔥
Each edition will have the following sections:
📓 IN THE CLASSROOM - Something happening at school in one of our classrooms (don’t worry, learning here is actually FUN)
🚙 OUT AND ABOUT - Something happening away from school! (we all know learning goes past the 4 walls, right?!)
📣 SMALL MOMENT SPOTLIGHT - it’s usually not the huge events or planned moments that make the most impact. Here, we spotlight the small moments that are actually quite HUGE.
🛠️ TRY IT AT HOME - your opportunity to DIY! An invitation to try being more child-led at home!
✨ Ready for this week?! Let’s get started! ✨
📓 IN THE CLASSROOM
Before it’s time for vacation, it’s time for a DEEP CLEAN!! The day before break, the kids went to town vacuuming, disinfecting, fixing, and rearranging their rooms.
Each student at Elements has their own space to decorate, nest, and care for. This builds ownership and accountability (as well as comfort - keepin’ it cozy!) as they want it to be comfortable and clean (although, yes, ‘clean’ might have slightly different definitions depending on the kid…)
They also share the classroom space, in which they split up responsibility. The day before vacation with a couple of kids absent, the kids that were there really stepped up (even got the labelmaker out!) They vacuumed, swiffered, and re-organized classroom materials - all on their own. Proud moment? Absolutely :) And they’ll be even more excited to come back to school knowing they have a clean, cozy space to come back that’s all theirs.
🚙 OUT AND ABOUT
This past week, my kids and I flew to California to visit family. It was a rollercoaster of a week - lots of highs, lots of lows - and a beautiful reminder to prioritize what’s important in life. Also a beautiful reminder that learning is all around at all times. And thankfully, because my kids have such a positive relationship with learning and have maintained their curiosity, they allowed the entire trip to be a learning experience. They wouldn’t call it that, because to them, it was just living. But that’s what learning is, right? Learning is living | living is learning. Full stop.
But for those who aren’t quite sure yet, here are just a few of the things I observed throughout the week:
birdwatching turned into an exploration of how and why birds are different on the west coast, looking through a bird book to identify the new birds we saw, naming them, and checking on them every morning (noticing the patterns different animals have throughout the day) - in case you’re wondering, in those experiences, there’s reading, writing, and science (and JOY)
grocery shopping in a different state is interesting - some things are less expensive, some things are more expensive, and some things aren’t available like we’re used to (shopping with allergies and particular eaters can be tricky…) Having the kids help me make grocery lists, shop with me, and cook with me are not only life skills, there’s math, financial literacy, cooking (measurements), and science (hypothesizing and exploring new tastes!) - oh yes, and JOY!
visiting a national park (one of my absolute favorites - ALCATRAZ!) was nothing short of magical. Listening and following along with the audio tour, listening to park rangers, exploring on our own, (and of course, visiting the gift shop) was - again - full of learning. Of course, the most obvious is history, but the conversations that came out of discussing prison life, mass incarceration, sociology of crime, and the science of Alcatraz Island and surrounding areas - it was all enlightening and incredible.
going to a library (at the kids’ request) because books are FUN (and by the way - blog post for another day, but - one of my kids was reading fluently at age 3, another isn’t yet a fluent reader at age 8, but because they both have a positive relationship with learning and they haven’t been made to feel ‘labeled’ because of either of their reading styles, they both find JOY in reading and they both LOVE trips to the library!)
traveling with a sibling - needless to say, my two neurospicy kiddos traveling with each other presented numerous opportunities for problem solving, flexible thinking, and conflict negotiation. #lifelessons
So, as you can tell, we believe (as a family and as a school) that learning is all around all the time.
📣 SMALL MOMENT SPOTLIGHT
There was a moment on the plane that both of my kids were sleeping AT THE SAME TIME. It probably lasted for a minute before one of them woke up cranky or needing something or complaining or asking how much longer until we’re there. But for that minute, I happened to catch it as a moment to savor, and it was just enough to make everything feel so worth it. I was in the middle seat with one laying on my right shoulder and one laying on my left shoulder and (partly because I couldn’t move to do or get anything else) I caught that moment for all it was worth.
I had been nervous about flying alone with my kids across the country. They both have their stuff and airports, airplanes, and travel (in general) is tricky for both of them in different ways. But it was really important to me (to us) that we visit my west coast sister - seeing their home, my nephew’s school, and just experiencing their daily life is something we’ve been thinking about for years. Travel is expensive and difficult, but we prioritized it and made it happen - we tackled that trip and we are so, so, so, so glad that we did.
We are also so grateful for the bigger moments, like family supporting us on both sides of the trip. (Getting off the plane in SF we had my parents waiting for us with a rental car and my sister’s fresh-cooked dinner at the house for us; coming home to Logan, we found my husband waiting at baggage claim with a cooler of food for us - even though it was midnight and FRIGID, it was a WARM WELCOME all around)
🛠️ TRY IT AT HOME
DIY learning through life - you can do it, too! Actually, you probably already are (and your kids definitely are). Think about this past week - whether your kids had vacation or not - and think about the amount of learning that happened through LIVING. And please, please, please - realize the JOY that is paired with that learning when it’s happening through living (not through force, coercion, or control). It’s not only happening more naturally and more beautifully, it’s happening more meaningfully, thus lasting longer.
BTW this is the best kind of DIY because the ‘doing’ is really in observing and reflecting. YAY!
🌳🌊☁️🔥
Until next time,
Heather 💕