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The aim of this Home Education blog is to share books, games and resources that I have found useful and fun in home educating my children. If you have a resource to share, please leave a comment. I would love to hear from you.
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By the Great Horn Spoon - My Review Trollogy! - My Review Danny Champion of the World Indian in the Cupboard When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
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Strewing

Before I knew that Sandra Dodd had coined the phrase ’strewing’, I used to call it ’seeding’. Strewing is the art of allowing your child to discover something you have casually left out because you think they will be interested in it (not because you think they SHOULD be interested in it!).

As a home educator, I want to expand my childrens awareness and knowledge as much as possible. Whilst everyday learning can be rich and interesting, I want to open this up even more. I want to ’seed’ their life with interesting/humorous/unusual/thought-provoking moments. I see strewing as scattering these moments throughout my childrens waking day - always watchful for that moment when the seed takes root, and begins to grow into something beautiful - into a connection made, or fact remembered, or just something that makes us laugh or wonder! And I accept that I need to be equally happy with a ’seed’ not taking root - with an item being ignored or passed over, because it doesn’t interest them at that particular moment.

I use a lot of varied resources to strew - hence this site!! But lots of free things can be used in strewing - it only takes a little imagination and a little effort. Even the most innocuous item can spark a child. A bored ‘What’s that?….. oh, right’ may not seem like much - but you will find them saying later ‘Oh yes - like that wierd vegetable you left out!’ Here is my list of free (or nearly free!!) ideas of things to strew in your childs life:

PC Things

Use an interesting wallpaper as your PC background and change it regularly. I quite often use a painting by a famous artist, or a photograph of a location.
Leave your screen an interesting article - what about an experiment to start with?
Download and install a free game or leave the screen open on links for free online games
Download free audiobooks and leave the CDs lying around. Or try a podcast.

Things to print out and leave lying around (or hang on the wall/fridge)

Peanuts cartoon or a Rudiments of Wisdom cartoon.
A painting (see wallpaper section above)
A colouring page or crossword, or puzzle
Paper dolls or paper toys
Craft instructions
The first chapter of a free downloadable book.

Things to make

A small origami shape
An unusual shaped blank booklet- or make a tiny catalogue like this one in Courageous Beings
1/2 woven paper mat or a polyhedra
A small collage of something interesting or an Artist Trading Card

Things you probably already have (or can get!)

stamps
travel brochures
A book, toy or game they haven’t looked at in ages.
An article cut from a newspaper or magazine
A left open encyclopaedia or reference book. Good ones are ones with card games, or magic tricks, or knots (leave some string too!)
A small basket of craft stuff
a tube of glitter, a scrap of fabric or yarn.
An old watch - even better, take the back off it.
Leaves, flowers, twigs, acorns, pebbles,shells
Forms - from the post office
Old coins or notes, or foreign money
blank index cards - or write a foreign word on one.
A box of ‘interesting’ things you find around the house
Unusual shaped vegetables, bunches of herbs, jars of beans, or an unusual fruit.
A telephone book or dictionary
Rolls of wallpaper or paint samples
Labels - from tins, wine
bowls of snacks
old photos, postcards or maps.
Postcards from around the world - see Postcrossing
A picture they drew when they were younger
Old keys
1/2 played game of solitaire
large old blanket, or sheet.

And its not just things you can strew. How about going a different way home? Or popping into a different shop to buy your groceries? Or re-arranging the books on the bookshelf by colour?

Of course, I dont strew ALL of these things ALL of the time!! Just a few of them at a time. If you want to know more about strewing then take a look at Sandras’ page on it. There is also an interesting article on strewing at Here in the Bonny Glen.