The Spark Station is not school, it is a tool that is used during school time or family structured learning time to inspire your children, if they choose to use it. Because The Spark Station is such an exciting tool and parents get so anxious for their children to use it, they often confuse it with school or structured family time, even calling school “Spark Station Time”. In every family I have mentored we have had to go back to the beginning and talk about this one point. During your structured family learning time, school time, educational time, structured time, reading time, whatever your family calls it, you gather together for the amount of time you have pre-determined and you learn together.
During this time The spark Station is available for your children to use. It isn’t available any other time of the day. It is open and they are free to explore the contents and “play” with whatever takes their fancy. On some days all of your children might find something they want to do in The Spark Station. You may have a child who wants to play a game that isn’t in The Spark Station or read a book or cook or any number of other possibilities. The Spark Station is just one tool in your educational arsenal to create and inspire a learning atmosphere.
I always have one or two families that feel, once they learn about The Spark Station, that they have to spend all their structured time in one room, every day. This isn’t the case. It is very important to have a fairly set time and stick to it. That time will, for the most part, be spent in the room where the family studies. This is also the room where your closet is located. But occasionally your structured time might be in the park talking about how ducks swim, why they don’t sink, what they eat, etc. You might be examining trees and bushes, flowers and weeds and comparing them, dissecting them, or naming them. Maybe you will visit a museum or the city water plant. Your structured time is about inspiring and learning, not about a room and The Spark Station.
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