Observing learning… A letter to my grandson

Dear Shai

Observing you learn, even from the other side of the world, is as enlightening as it is rewarding.

Watching your videos over and over (as faraway grandparents must do) reveal, with each viewing, new things about you and your learning…

Your unbridled curiosity as you explore new things, experiment, play and investigate.

Your hutzpah, as you engage in activities intended for the older kids.

Your joy in your learning as you jiggle and dance while you ‘work’.

Your intensity when you find something that interests you, applying yourself to the same task again and again in different ways to see what happens.

Your fearlessness as you approach new encounters, patting a hamster and an iguana with equal enthusiasm.

Your thoughtfulness, as you stop to consider the best solutions to problems that present themselves- How will you climb up the step while carrying Granny (in the iPad)?

Your initiative, as you approach new equipment and new experiences – Who says you can’t photocopy a spoon?

Your creativity in finding new ways to use toys and nontoys, irrespective of how they are ‘supposed’ to be used.

Your impatience, pointing and grunting when you don’t have the language to ask for the help you need in achieving the task at hand.

Your persistence, not giving up till you succeed at what it is you seek to do. Who says you can’t fit through the laundry doorway with two washing baskets in tow?

Your pride in your own achievements as you cheerfully applaud your successful attempts at placing the shapes in the appropriate holes.

Your disdain for ‘the rules’, as you insist on choosing your own learning experiences.

I hope you retain these qualities as you grow and that they are not knocked out of you once you go to school…

Always sharing in your learning,

Granny xx