Ohhhhhhhhh-bama! Unschooling the Election

I mentioned in my earlier post that we got together and "studied" the election process today with some friends. It was pretty fun, and the kids participated to their interest level. I saw a spark really ignite in Kaitlyn - our resident Obama supporter. She was pretty interested in the electoral college and how it worked. Not understanding it fully myself - Kaitlyn and I both spent some time Googling different things to come to a better understanding. Tonight she looked up the electoral votes of each state and went looking for a printed map in our cabinet of schoolish-stuff. The only thing we could find was this huge US floor puzzle. The permission was granted to write on it with a permanent marker, and it became a tracking device as we watched the election coverage. Kaitlyn and Kullen used some white stickers in the cabinet and colored them red and blue and once a state was "called" for a certain candidate/party, they would place the appropriate colored sticker. I love to see learning become real because it has applicability, relevance. This was one of the best things I've seen my kids do - self-initiated in a while, but they learned so much more than when I purpose to "show" them or "teach" them something. Kaitlyn understands the election process more than she did yesterday and is interested enough to continue studying it. You can't beat that with a stick. Oh yeah - and her man was elected as if that isn't the icing on the cake!
Congratulations President Elect Obama. We'll see where the next four years take us.