This weekend my family too our annual trip to Sullivan, Maine just outside of Bar Harbor. As my son gets older and older, the difference in landscape and wildlife become more and more exciting for him. This year was especially significant. Last year he had discovered a few caterpillars and this year he was determined to find any and every species of them imaginable. It got to the point where he had a tub full of 10-15 different kinds of “spiky ones, blue ones, even ones with FUR Daddy!” His sister, not to be left alone with the adults, decided to join the exploration and the two of them took it upon themselves to surprise me with a jar full of six huge yellow garden spiders. At one point my daughter was holding one in the palm of her hand.  Needless to say we calmly asked her to gently set it on the ground.  It was a tricky parenting moment for us to say the least.

I’d love to tell you that I had some intricate plan for two days of scientific exploration, that I sent them on a mission to find and collect all new species of insect. Instead, it was my two children, ages 5 and 3 that drove the learning, walking through chest-high grass on their way to discovery. They were just plain curious about the new environment before them. And they weren’t just excited to find the next neat colored insect or arachnid. They would constantly come back, bug in hand, asking “What’s this one?” or “Do you know what this is?” It got to the point where my friend Hawk found them a field guide on butterflies and moths. Teagan couldn’t read it yet, but he knew how to use it, thumbing through the pages looking for just the right caterpillar that he found. It was an amazing experience to watch my children explore like this.

As they say in the education world, this was a perfect teachable moment.  It was a time when my children wanted to know about the world around them and were looking for answers.  We discussed how bright colors are a way to say “danger.”  How you need to handle insects with care.  We had a discussion about how even though they are small, insects need air to breathe too.  We looked at legs, observed movement, noticed slime, and felt shells.

When teaching, I encounter these teachable moments all the time.  Sometimes in the middle of lesson, they are not what I was planning on addressing, but they are a chance to make a piece of learning stick.  The same can be true at home.  While it may not be the most convenient time to discuss what the numbers on the back of a label mean or why some grocery items are measured in ounces as opposed to milliliters, these are the moments when you can tap into your child’s curiosity and help him or her learn something that he or she is craving to know.  Enjoy these moments and don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know” too.  It’s a perfect way for them to see that adults are learning every day too!

Have a great week.

Tom