We live in a very flat area surrounded by cornfields, so a visit to Nana’s house a few hours away is always fun because of the different terrain there. There are more hills, more twists and turns, lots of rivers, streams and forest preserves and Nana’s house is surrounded by woods. It’s magical to go from our neighborhood of houses near cornfields into the solitude and majesty of the woods, so we call Nana’s house “The Enchanted Forest.” On our visits, we always carve out time to spend in the woods and it’s always worth it- no matter the weather. Being a homeschooler, a playworker and being interested in forest schools, this is my prime location: in an amazing set of woods with plenty o

Kelsey and Naomi were interviewed about the importance of self directed play, children being the experts of play and what's next for KOOP. Check out the interview below! http://www.illinoishomepage.net/news/local-news/imagination-encouraged-in-proposed-playground

I first heard about the idea of a decrease in creativity through Sir Ken Robinson. He elaborates on his well- known Ted talk about how schools may be ruining children’s creativity. He speaks about seeing the many kinds of abilities that each child possesses and giving them the opportunity to seek it out as opposed to one discipline being ‘worth’ more. He goes further and says that creativity should be treated in the same way as literacy. Children are not afraid to be wrong so they will try just about anything. But eventually we end up growing out of it and a fear of making mistakes awakens. From there I was lead to Gever Tulley, the founder and director of the Tinkering School. One will le

Our lop eared bunny Robin has been missing since last night so I put some food and water outside the kitchen door hoping that she will come home. So my kids have been unplugged for quite a while now and it is all starting to pay off. Today was filled with self-directed moments, creativity and spending time connecting with people. Starting at 7 AM I took a bath and my kids ate their breakfast downstairs and played on their own. They made their way upstairs and started making art with raw materials. When I got out of the bath my 7 year old son took a long bath that lasted well over and hour where he was totally self entertained playing with a rubber-band and with suction cup building thing