Learning and Salads

Princess Posy playing a harmonica like a little hobo on a street corner

When I was in college I remember a teacher explaining to us that learning takes place when we can associate a new idea or fact to existing ideas in our memory and becomes part of that network of information. I try to remember it when seeking to teach my little ones: Always connect the new information with something they already know. I was explaining seasons to my daughter using her experience with snow, leaves, heat, and flowers. Then I told her what those times were called. Now Annie goes around the house saying, "When the leaves fall down it's Fall! When the snow comes its Winter!" If I just told her that it's first spring, then summer, fall, and then winter in a cycle she would be lost at sea trying to understand. I bet you didn't analyze the process of teaching that microscopically did you? I'm weird like that.