The Tree of Learning

I love that with family school, we are incorporating the gospel with all of our learning.  One of our lessons was on the Tree of Learning.  Parly P. Pratt said this,

"Theology is the science of all other sciences…the very foundation from
which they [all other sciences] emanate. It includes, philosophy, astronomy,
history, mathematics, geography, languages, the science of letters, and
blends the knowledge of all matters of fact, in every branch of art and
research…originated by this science [theology] and this science alone, all
other sciences [subjects] being but branches growing out of this root"

All that we learn emanates from God.  That is what is so exciting about learning and understanding.  The more knowledge that we gain from the world around us, the more knowledge we gain of God.  If we seek truth, we will find it.

I love the symbolism of a tree.

In family school we talked about how all of the subjects we are learning can be likened to a tree. This lesson can be found for free in Family School Foundation: A Parent Guidebook, lesson 3.  I drew a tree for my kids to color as we talked about what it means.

I also made a color version.

I also gave each of the kids a list of the subjects and their definitions.

4 Ring

This is our sixth year of homeschooling.
We have tested and tried many different methods and curriculum.
We have found a lot of amazing ways to learn.
We have also found some very dry and boring ways to "sort of" learn.

We are so excited about Family School.
We are learning with enthusiasm!
It is just what we needed.

This is how we learn.
First, we Research.
We need to acquire knowledge of what we are studying.  We are trying to do this from really good books.  Last year we tried to do our learning from a textbook approach.  We actually used textbooks.  You know, the kind you had to wrap in old paper grocery bags or used wrapping paper. Ya, that kind.

Well, that was a mistake.

We don't love textbooks.  So we research through "living" books.  It is a lot more enjoyable.  "The better the source, the better the reasoning and conclusions that are drawn from the source." (Family School Foundations: A Parent Guidebook)

Not only do we read from great books, but we also use all of our senses to experience what we learn. We want to acquire as much truth as we can.

Second, Reason.
The kids are expected to think about what they learn.   We aren't just attempting dump information into their brains so that they can throw it up on a test, then forget it.  We want them to think about the why's and how's.  This is where they get to reflect and ponder what was researched.

Third, Relate.
Why do all of this learning if we aren't going to use it?

Last, Record.
"When we write about what we have learned, we make it our internal property." (Family School Foundations: A Parent Guidebook)

Each of the kids have their own notebooks for each subject.

Sometimes they grumble about the recording.  Then they pull out their notebooks, look at their hard work, and get so much joy from seeing what they have accomplished.  It is so rewarding.

Awhile back I got a Bamboo Wacom for school.  I love to doodle.  I thought it would be fun to make my own coloring pages for the kids.  I have finally gotten to use it!  It is trickier than I thought.  It isn't exactly high tech.  My sketches look a little "wiggly", if that makes sense.   I'm not a fantastic artist.  But, I'm starting to get the hang of it.  I made this for the kids when we did the 4 Ring lesson.





If you are also doing Family School, here it is as a fill in the blank for the kids.




We love the 4 R's!
Learn more about the 4 R's of learning in Family School Foundation: A Parent Guidebook.