Choose between play and learning? No way! Explore the science behind play-based learning.
Many people, including some educators, believe that we need to choose between play opportunities and rigorous academics. Yet the science actually tells us that one is necessary for the other. Play is a primary component of learning. Play fosters healthy brain development and emotional maturation. Play lowers anxiety and frustration and fosters independence. Play is the most important part of childhood. This session will touch on the science behind play-based learning and discuss practical strategies for incorporating play into our homeschools.
Speaker: Jennifer Gehman
Jennifer Gehman (BA, BEd.) is a veteran homeschooling mother of five children – four have graduated from homeschool to university and beyond and her fifteen-year-old is still learning in the living room. She is a co-founder of Wildwood Curriculum, past-president and online liaison at the Manitoba Association for Schooling at Home, and a facilitator at the Neufeld Institute. She is passionate about developmental attachment and play and has created family playgrounds around cosplay, board games, historical reenactment, and children’s theatre.