31 Days Seize the Learning Opportunity

One of the aspects of homeschooling I love the most is that we can take something that happens around us and use it as an opportunity to learn.

This spring we had a gopher who insisted on wrecking some serious havoc in our backyard and lot. There were little holes popping up all over in the grass and in the gravel area. Every day the kids would find a new series of holes and it was totally driving me bonkers.


One day while I was starting dinner the little menace popped his head up in a little gravel section that is in our patio area. The girls were out playing when they saw a hole form and then a little head popped out. They ran in to tell me then we all went out to watch him.

 He continued tunneling about a foot over and made a new hole, popped his head out and then the crazy thing decided he miscalculated and decided to make yet another hole just about 6 inches over. We started talking about how they make a look out hole first to make sure everything is safe before making another hole to actually venture out of.

He then started running out very quickly snatching a part of a weed that was growing there and dragging it back into the hole eating it then popping up to quickly snatch another piece. This was a new thing to me as I had only seen them eat plants from the root up as the plant vanishes before my eyes.

We watched him do his thing for a little over an hour. (Dinner ended up being very late that night.) The beauty of it all was that the kids were able to learn about gophers and how they tunnel, what they look like in real life, how big they are, what they eat (when they aren’t eating my tomato plants) and their mannerisms, not from a book but from observation.

We continued our discussion over the next few days making sure that our learning opportunity did not go to waste. Little G loves that stinkin' gopher and looks for new holes all the time.

Pay attention to what is happening around you so that you can seize every real life learning opportunity.

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