The more I speak to people about education, the more I realise how deeply engrained the learning=education=schooling paradigm is. People will acknowledge that learning can (and does) happen anywhere, anytime, but two sentences after that acknowledgement they are again referring to curricula, classrooms, exams and textbooks.
Our experience, of course, is of learning that happens outside of those parameters.
We recently visited ZooDaddy's cousin and family on their farm in the Eastern Cape. It was (as it always is) end-to-end fun - they are the most wonderful people, and the kids get dragged all over the place to do all sorts of things.
While I was looking through the photos of the trip, I was struck by how much they learnt while having all that fun. What follows are my favorite photos from our visit. Where relevant, in the captions, I will discuss just a few of the conversations sparked/learning opportunity presented. It's amazing how much education takes place when one is not really paying attention to it. Day 1:
A mid-afternoon arrival is followed by a drive in the bakkie (pick-up truck) when ZooDaddy mentions he'd like to photograph some of the wild-flowers we saw while driving along the roads to the house. MissyGeorge dons an appropriate outfit
Some goofing around with my camera (these shadows belong to LadyLolo and I) leads to a discussion around shadow length related to time of day and the angle of the sun.
We stop to look at a particularly rich wild-flower area. LadyLolo tries various different approaches to photographing the view but is unhappy with the "boring" results". I point out that none of her photos have contrast in them and one's eye doesn't have anywhere to start when looking at the picture, or any particular way to travel through. The brain battles to pay attention properly. I suggest looking for something of interest to place in the foreground. When she looks skeptical, I take this photo using a road sign and grass in the foreground. She immediately sees the difference. The foreground initially draws the eye to the front, and once there, the eye is drawn in to follow the zigzag of the valley through the rest of the photo.
Being essentially a plant hunting expedition, the focus is essentially on the wildflowers. This area is rich with a great diversity of beautiful, and locally specialised flowers. ZooDaddy's cousins know their land so well, and the species that grow there. Their obvious passion for the flora on this farm shines through, They know the species names, when they flower, where they are localised. What a perfect example of interest-driven learning. Neither have ever studied botany, but they take often specialists around this farm and teach them. I love it!
A chance meeting with the neighbour who actually owns this patch of veld we were looking in gives the kids a glimpse of some of the complexities involved in making decisions regarding conservation. Despite the floral richness of this area, the reality is that this is also really good grazing land. A civil debate ensues (these are good friends) about the value of conserving an area such as this when weighed against the economic advantage of moving a fence to allow cattle into the area to graze. Not all decisions are simple.
The discovery of a "centipede" by MrTepps leads to a flurry of discussion when ZooDaddy and I point out that it is, in fact, a millipede. This leads to a question by MrBiggs as to what "milli" and "centi" mean, the wonderful dawning of realisation that this applies to measurements too (millimeters and centimeters) and the introduction of other numerical prefixes such as nano and kilo. I do so love etymology.
Day 2:
The "new" house (after fixing it up ZooDaddy's cousin's family have finally moved into the "actual" farmhouse) has an old neglected orchard. The kids are roped into collecting apples and figs. By the end of the visit they can recognise several different types of fruit trees, know about the difficulties of keeping birds and insects away from fruit, and have heard a lot about the importance of pruning the trees in order to "rejuvenate" them. In addition LadyLolo spends some time in the farm kitchen leaning how to make apple chutney and to preserve figs. There are many ways to use the fruit that is left after all that can has been eaten.
The highlight of the visit for MrTepps is unquestionably rides on the back of the bakkie. His enthusiatic "All aboard the bakkie" calls forms a recurrent part of the soundtrack of our stay.
Every time we visit ZooDaddy relishes the opportunity to get his hands dirty with some hands-on veterinary work and husbandry. Here he photographs a cow that had been attacked by screw worm, prior to her receiving treatment. (He has a whole collection of gory and disgusting photos. He'd call them "interesting".)
Flower discovery expeditions are frequent. After seeing to the ill and injured cows we go looking for Candelabra Flowers (Brunsvigia grandiflora in this particular instance)
Day 3:
Throughout the trip the kids have pretty much free reign with my camera. MrBiggs discovers that if he takes a series of photos of one of his sisters in motion in quick succession, then scrolls through them rapidly in viewing mode (oh, the JOY of digital!), it looks as if they were moving on the camera. What an irresistible introduction to all the knowledge and information surrounding the art of animation. We talk about how the brain sees, early animations (including the phenakistoscope which we have met before), the difference between those kinds of animation and the animation we see today.
(Aside: All the pictures taken actually led to some later research and experimentation at home using Windows Movie Maker to make stop motion video)
ZooDaddy does a bit more veterinary work on the farm - vasectomising 4 rams, thereby creating so-called "teaser rams". One aspect of their education that I suspect many kids of vets, farmers and, to some extent, doctors get an early start on is reproductive biology. It's difficult to make it a taboo subject when they are surrounded by mating, birth and discussions about sexual biology. While ZooDad operates he (and ZooMomma) answer all sorts of questions regarding male reproductive physiology. All sorts.
