Welcome to the Natural Life
Learning Centers in the Home
This issue I have another great article by Becca Orlowski on creating learning centers in the home. Becca is a former school teacher and is now an eclectic home schooling mom of two. She has re-thought the idea of learning centers, which are often used in the classroom, and translated it into the home environment. I think you will find it interesting and inspiring!
When I was a public school teacher, learning centers were a valuable part of my classroom and children delighted in using them for self-directed learning. (Is it any wonder I was labeled a rabble-rouser? Imagine having children learn something on their own? Tsk! Tsk!) As a relaxed homeschooler, I’ve adapted the concept of learning centers to fit nicely in our home environment. A learning center is a designated area where your children (and you) can go to find a multitude of resources on a particular topic or subject area. Though learning obviously overlaps subject areas, it’s still easy enough to have general centers that are organized to make it easy for your children to access materials from a particular genre.
As you set up learning centers, you’ll want to keep in mind a few things. Each family will have centers that will be relatively strong or weak in material, depending on the importance of a given subject to a particular family. Clearly, families are unique and we can gain wisdom from observing each other’s homes and learning centers and asking others for suggestions on what to include in a particular center.
Along with this, remember that learning centers change and grow. You’ll find yourself adding, deleting, and rearranging material as your children’s interests and knowledge base change. Changing locations in your house from time to time and making materials more accessible may spark a new interest in a particular subject. I think you’ll find yourself setting up new learning centers that you hadn’t originally thought of as a potential area of study. You’ll probably find that you’ll be setting up learning centers as a result of a newfound interest. Right now, I am considering a geography center because of my son’s fascination with Thomas Brothers’ Guides and other maps/atlases.
Setting Up Learning Centers
In planning your learning centers, you’ll want to consider the following: interest levels in a particular subject area, financial limitations, safety issues, space limitations, and organizational choices. If your children have a high interest in art, you’ll want to make your art center readily accessible and larger than other centers. If their interest in art is in, say, studying the masters rather than building with clay, you’ll want to give access to books, videos, and art supplies that help them to realize their specific interest.
If finances are a concern, you’ll want to leave an open area in your center for materials borrowed from the library or other resources. You can also shop at library sales, book sales, garage sales, church sales, swap meets, and thrift stores to develop your centers. Consider trading materials with other homeschoolers. Shop online using the various used curriculum/used book sites and looks for sales from your favorite suppliers. I have a friend who found a whole bin of beautiful art supplies by a trash dumpster after summer camp was over!
If safety is a concern due to either young children or potentially dangerous materials (such as in a science center), you’ll want to have a way to limit access to materials. You may consider having a learning center with small or dangerous parts up in a high cabinet or behind a door that can only be unlocked by you or your older children.
In considering space limitations, realize that you can get creative with the design of your learning centers. Even if your home is small, you can still find plenty of room for learning centers. They can be set up as whole rooms, they can be established in a closet, they can be laid out on a table or counter, they can be arranged on shelves anywhere, and don’t forget garages and storage sheds. The top of a bookshelf can be a learning center, so can an empty drawer or a large plastic bin. You and your children can have fun designing learning centers that work for your home.
Some learning centers may simply be books about a particular subject. We have a “library” that doubles as our computer room and I am conscious to try and arrange the non-fiction books in a particularly accessible way for my children, especially in their high interest areas. It takes some time for your children to learn your organizational system (and you might have success having them set up their own system). You also will need to refamiliarize them with an area if you’ve done some rearranging.
Example of a Learning Center
An important area in our house is the music center. If you have enough room, I would suggest designating a whole room to music (or whatever learning center is most important to your family). Our dream is to add on a small, fairly soundproof room and call it our music room. As of now, our music center is our living room.
We have two violins, two cellos, and a keyboard, which get used frequently. There are music stands, music stools, and volumes of music books used for playing. We also have books about music and musicians, which are shelved, in our library. Our music collection is shelved in two main areas, a CD rack and a large plastic bin under the stereo, which holds both CDs and cassettes. It consists of lots of strings based classical and fiddle music, worship and hymns, Boomerang (the audio magazine), unabridged books on tape, geography, history, Spanish, and grammar tapes, and much more. We also use the library extensively to supplement our collection. We have an open space on a bookshelf underneath the music books to hold any borrowed materials.
Of great benefit are the portable tape/CD players and headphones. The portable players get used all day throughout the house but always end up back in the music center. We keep a supply of batteries on hand for the portable players (though we encourage the children to plug them in when possible). Also useful for families that sing would be microphones and karaoke machines. Obviously, your music center will be characterized by your family’s unique interests and might look quite different from ours.
Extending Your Learning Centers
Several other supplements to our music center must be noted. My parents were professional musicians and they are great resources for music recommendations and borrowing privileges from their vast CD collection. My older son also takes piano lessons from my mom and we have access to a nice piano at her house. In addition, my parents are heavily involved in the local music community and my children and I frequently attend live performances of high quality music, sometimes at a discount or even for free. My children, 10 and 6, are no strangers to attending symphonies, chamber music, or other types of concerts. My older son also performs regularly with his strings ensemble group.
It pays to scour community and outside resources for adding to your learning centers. Museums, colleges, sports and music camps, magazines, newspapers, astronomy clubs, and nature centers are but a few places to look for supplements to your home learning centers. You may be able to find mentors or other professionals who have materials, knowledge, and skills that they’ re willing to share with your children.
If something from a learning center sparks a particularly deep interest, follow your child’s lead and help them pursue the interest. Inherently, that ’s what a learning center is designed to do-facilitate an interest, enhance and develop an interest, and to extend the interest beyond your home out into the community where your children can ultimately share their passions and gifts with others.
Becca Orlowski is a home school mom in San Diego and a regular contributor to San Diego Homeschooling
