Hands-on Learning: When Manipulatives Are Not an Option

A good number of homeschooling parents prefer a hands-on approach to learning. They eschew workbooks and worksheets, and instead favour unschooling, handicrafts, nature study and living books. Even those who accept textbooks will shop around for a curriculum that makes good use of manipulatives. They will arrange field trips, join homeschool coops to benefit from art lessons and scientific exploration. They will teach math and science by building models or playing board games, by cooking or planning and growing a garden. And all of this has one goal: encouraging their children to learn by doing.

In "A King's Curriculum," Michele Winkler tells a wonderful tale of how she took her her six year old daughter shopping for unschooling supplies at the local five and dime: "While we piled our cart with puzzles, games, and watercolors, I used to cast pitying glances at the unenlightened moms hovering around the book rack. As I watched them flip through the pages of math and grammar workbooks that boasted insipid motivational stickers, I wondered how they could justify inflicting such inanity on their children."

But "A King's Curriculum" is also the story of a mother who came to a crossroads where she had to face the drawbacks of an educational path she had chosen. When she caught her toddler mouthing the coins her daughter was using to practice adding and subtracting, she now realizes, it was the beginning of new and lower standards for homeschooling n the Winkler household. "At first Max was content with gleaning whatever he could find on the floor. But once he learned to haul himself up to table level, none of our hands-on stuff was safe from his determined forays. Soon our base-ten blocks, U.S. bingo, pushpins, and glue sticks were locked up more carefully than most household poisons. In a few weeks, we were down to pencils (without erasers), a deck of laminated playing cards, and a large, soft ball."

Out of desperation Winkler asked a more experienced homeschooling mom how to handle this phase in her family's journey. And of course, she was told to do the one thing she had promised she would never, ever do: use workbooks.

When manipulatives are not an option
Even classroom teachers tend to lean much more towards the use of hands-on exploration today, especially in the earlier primary grades. Touching, seeing, doing all make more sense to a younger student than listening to a lesson and being made to sit down to memorize "facts" that summarize concepts not yet observed or understood. Even for older students, sometimes making a model or doing lab work can be a crucial part of the learning process. Practical problem solving is heavily emphasized too, even in state curriculum standards.

But some manipulatives can be expensive, and not all homeschoolers are set up to conduct kitchen science experiments or to spend whole afternoons tramping through the woods while the kids practice their air brush techniques and observe the life cycle of the local flora and fauna firsthand. Some have babies and toddlers in tow. Some work at home. Some are simply hard pressed to find space to store even one more puzzle or board game, let alone the full kit of twenty or thirty math manipulatives. Yes, sometimes the workbook does have to become part of our educational plan - even for those who swore they would never use one.

But there are other alternatives that can complement that workbook, and that can maintain some element of hands-on exploration in the homeschooling environment until the situation is different.

Hands-on alternatives: Virtual manipulatives, educational web sites and computer games
There are a number of web sites that offer virtual versions of standard math manipulatives. While this is not "hands-on" in the strictest sense because children do not actually hold the items in their hands and manipulate them in three dimensional space, a virtual manipulative can be a useful alternative when a family is waiting for a manipulative kit to arrive from their curriculum supplier, or it can be a way to test certain types of manipulatives before deciding whether to buy them. For parents who worry about the choking hazard for their younger offspring, the virtual manipulative is an ideal compromise. And for those of us with children who are forever losing their blocks, counters and puzzle pieces, the virtual manipulative is a godsend. Children learn by looking and by controlling the manipulative with a mouse. It is dynamic, and appeals to visual and kinesthetic learners more than the flat, static, black and white workbook page.

Educational computer programs take the virtual manipulative one step farther. They usually involve sound too, and very often have some sort of a plot that unfolds as kids go through the challenges. There are web sites that offer free and membership based access to games, and there are games that can be purchased on CD-ROM or by instant download. Whereas virtual manipulatives tend to relate more to math skills, educational software addresses a huge range of subject areas and ages. Kids can practice math or spelling, learn geography or a second language, listen to an interactive audiobook, or create their own music and artwork.

Hands-on alternatives: Living books
Charlotte Mason emphasized the use of what she called "living books" in her approach to education. Originally a method used to train governesses and school mistresses, the Charlotte Mason approach has become one of the better known ways to homeschool. There is no definitive list of living books, but it is generally agreed that what sets them apart is that they teach by telling a story. Living books are, first and foremost, good literature. Unlike textbooks a living book is neither dry and boring, nor does it attempt to oversimplify or talk down to a child.

Homeschooling parents who opt for this approach often share suggestions for books that teach history, geography, foreign languages, math and science. Copywork, dictation and recitation may use passages from the books. When dealing with historical events or figures, students may use a time line to develop a better sense of the flow of history. Maps are similarly used to locate the places studied, or to see where in the world an event took place.

Hands-on alternatives: Video
Film and theatre often bring a subject to life in a way that other media simply cannot. Sometimes watching a video can also explain a difficult subject. We have found video very useful with our girls. They love to watch movies based on books, but also documentaries and instructional videos. And they adore to watch music videos too! We have used this to teach them about different types of music or about musical instruments they have never seen. We frequently use video to help them practice for their pipes and drums lessons, and to learn folk music or patriotic songs. And of course, sometimes we make videos of them, so they can look back and see how much they are learning!

Michele Winkler describes her trip to the five and dime store to pick out workbooks for her daughter. As she wanders down the aisles, hesitant to approach the workbook racks, she revisits many of the other ideals she had set for herself and her family - many of which she realized over time, it was impractical to live up to. Yes, using workbooks - or computer games, or videos - may be a compromise we never expected to have to make. Yes, some of us will find our kids are simply not able to keep up with the rigours of the homeschooling plan that appeals most to us as parents and educators. We may be able to read the living books with our kids, but perhaps the books for a grade level or two below. Or we may have to use the audio versions or abridged texts, much as we had wanted our kids to read the original unabridged texts.

One of the main reasons many parents homeschool, however, is to respect our children's learning interests and to create an environment in which each child can learn according to his or her individual needs. Sometimes respecting where our kids are at means letting them have the workbooks and the stickers. Sometimes an individualized education means having to fall back on workbooks or other tools as our "plan B." But remember that compromise is not a defeat: it is achieving exactly what we had set out to do, giving our kids the best education for where they happen to be at each moment in their development.

Source:
Michele Winkler, "A King's Curriculum" Home Education