The following post is by Hillary of Infinitely Learning.
Kids ask the best questions. Sometimes their larger than life, authentically inspired questions give me a great opportunity to explain something I know lots about and other times they complete stump me.
Sometimes I know the answer, but don't necessarily have the best way to explain it.
Our family learns by following our interests, which means when my son asks a brilliant question it is the beginning of a learning storm. Not only are we going to find out the answer, but we are going to learn the ever important practice of finding out how to answer our questions.
Sometimes the answer comes from an internet search, books, youtube videos or a call to a friend or relative who is an expert on that subject. We make connections in our play, in the kitchen, while filling up the tub or out at the market. Since subjects such as reading, math and history are interwoven through all aspects of life it's easy to embrace whole life learning.
There is one problem with this style of learning: How do you catch those brilliant questions? If you are anything like me you might find yourself balancing on one foot, with a baby in a sling, two bags over a shoulder while you tie your three year old's shoes.
In the middle of this moment my six year old asks, "How do my taste buds work? I mean, how do the buds catch the taste?"
I can give him my thirty second answer, but this is such an amazing learning opportunity and unless something is done I'm doomed to forget about this question and keep going with my million-moments-a-minute lifestyle.
Then one day I overheard a brilliant solution on a Sid the Science Kid dvd we borrowed from our library. (Who ever said you don't learn things from television?)
When Sid asks a question that deserves more time than they have to give his parents write it down and put it in their question box.
Perfect! This has made such a big difference in our learning lifestyle. Now when I'm prepping for the library I can browse the questions I've written down during the week and find books and resources to answer them. Also, when my son wants to use the computer we can use the questions as guide as we explore.
Just the simple act of writing the questions down helps me remember them so that I can help integrate and support the exploration of his curiosities through different modalities throughout our days and weeks.
The question box is a learning tool that helps our family flourish.
**What's the best question your child has asked recently?**
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Hillary is a thoughtful mother, loving wife, and a conscientious cook and consumer. She credits her two sons and one daughter to her ever expansive knowledge base and blogs about mindful family living at infinitelearners.com.
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