Welcome to The Learning Shire!
It’s a brand-new work in progress, but this is my hope for it.
That The Learning Shire will be a place for parents and teachers who know the joys of reading and learning–and who strive to share that joy with the children you love.
Our activities will span the curriculum: reading, writing, math, science, social studies, movement, and the arts. But they begin with stories. Imagine a place where A Very Hungry Caterpillar leads to a letter-matching game, a sequencing game (egg to caterpillar to pupa to butterfly), and a “healthy vs. unhealthy foods” sorting game. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? leads to activities about color-matching, animal traits, and rhyming words.
Stories connect us. To each other, to the world, to ideas we might not have otherwise be exposed to. They give children (of all ages) that wondrous feeling of entering another world, of sharing another life. In The Learning Shire, they also inspire a treasure trove of games, activities, and exploration materials to help children learn and grow through discovery and play.
Aristotle once said, “Education is not the filling of a vessel, but the kindling of a fire.
The Learning Shire is being created to help you, as parents and teachers, kindle the fires of learning in the children you love.
If you have questions or comments for The Learning Shire, you can send them to me at Beth@LearningShire.com. In the meantime, I’d like to leave you with a favorite quote from Shel Silverstein’s charming book Where the Sidewalk Ends:
“If you are a dreamer, come in.
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hoper, a pray-er, a magic-bean buyer,
If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire,
For we have some flax golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!”.
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