Sharing Knowledge

Another thing I am loving about homeschooling, is the fact that peers are not necessarily learning the same things at the same time. Each family is making their own decision on what to learn and when. So, when peers get together, they are able to share their knowledge with each other. Each peer brings something new to the relationship enabling each to take turns being a teacher or a student.

One morning, while we were playing at a nearby park with friends, the daughter of the other family spotted owl pellets. We had seen them before on a tour, but never really touched them, opened one or anything more than just see them. To be honest, it looked like a dust ball or small tumble weed, but our friend knew instantly what they were.

The kids immediately found sticks to pry the pellets open and find what was inside. The two oldest kids were able to identify the different bones inside and got a good idea of the size of the animal the owl had eaten.

Just a few days before, we had seen actual teeth of a beaver, where parts were ivory and parts were orange. This helped us to identify the teeth of the animal found in one of the pellets. I love how each field trip seems to link to something else we do. It makes it "real" for the kids and they are able to connect to what they are learning.