The Experience Before the Explanation

EP221: Understanding how to develop a hands-on learning experience before offering an explanation can change everything about your homeschool teaching!

On this episode of the Art of Homeschooling podcast, Jean breaks down this powerful approach to teaching which is based on the work of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf education. 

As home educators, when we allow children to experience concepts firsthand before explaining theories or principles, we preserve their natural wonder and curiosity rather than shutting them down with premature explanations. This makes learning much less abstract. And honors how children learn naturally.

In this episode, you'll hear examples from math, language arts, science, and history. Plus loads of inspiration that will make a real difference in your homeschooling journey.

Find the Show Notes here  https://artofhomeschooling.com/episode221/

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Chapters

• 0:40 My mantra for homeschooling: "The experience before the explanation"
• 2:33 Why do hands-on experiences matter?
• 3:08 Math: Concrete Experiences before Abstract Concepts
• 5:21 Language Arts: Storytelling as Experience
• 7:02 Science: Observation Before Explanation
• 8:49 History: Stepping Into the Past
• 10:18 Experiential Training for Home Educators

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

You're listening to the Art of Homeschooling podcast, where we help parents cultivate creativity and connection at home. I'm your host, jean Miller, and here on this podcast you'll find stories and inspiration to bring you the confidence you need to make homeschooling work for your family. Let's begin. Welcome back to the Art of Homeschooling podcast. I'm Jean, your host, and today we're diving into an idea that can truly transform your homeschooling journey. I remember when I grasped this idea and it really felt freeing and enlightening at the same time. So here it is the experience before the explanation. This is a mantra that I started sharing years ago at the Teproot teacher training, and I love hearing homeschooling parents and teachers repeat it often when describing Waldorf education. I really believe that this idea stemmed from Rudolf Steiner wanting to create a more hands-on and engaging approach. When he started the very first Waldorf School, his main inspiration was to combat the abstract type of learning and teaching that he observed in schools over 100 years ago, but he really wanted to make learning more engaging and inspiring for children. Today's episode builds on a previous one episode, number 173, there's no Substitute for Experience, where we explored the power of experiential learning as an educational philosophy. Today we'll take that idea a step further by looking at how we can apply this concept across different subjects, for example math, language arts, science and history. If you want a brief overview and a link to anything that we mentioned in this episode today, go have a look at the show notes, which you'll find at artofhomeschoolingcom, slash episode 221. So you might be wondering, why does this even matter? Well, because when children experience something firsthand, before we get into explanations or theory or principles, they engage more deeply, they make lasting connections and it helps them develop a love of learning because their curiosity is sparked first and they can begin to wonder and make their own guesses and connections before we, kind of like, cut off their curious and wondering minds.

Speaker 1: 3:08

Okay, let's dig in with lots of examples. The first subject I'm going to go into is math learning through patterns and movement. That's really the Waldorf approach. Math is often taught in mainstream settings in a very abstract way right Numbers on a worksheet, memorized facts and formulas. But in a Waldorf-inspired homeschool in particular, we can start with experiences. Here are just a few examples.

Speaker 1: 3:40

We start with using stories and manipulatives when we introduce the four processes of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, which happens very early on in the early grades, like right away in first grade. Perhaps it's a story about a family of squirrels who gather acorns and then share them with each other, or maybe it's an ongoing story about a princess who gathers gemstones and then gives some away. Another example for the subject of math is that before explaining multiplication or memorizing the times tables, we can engage children in rhythmic movement, clapping games, stepping patterns, skip counting or beanbag tossing. That introduces multiples. Naturally we count by twos and fives and tens as a movement activity before writing out equations. By experiencing these patterns with their bodies, children internalize the relationships between numbers before we ever define or explain them. Another example when introducing fractions, which comes a little bit later on. Say in fourth grade, we might bake a pie or cut up fruit into halves, thirds, quarters, before moving to written equations. Then we can show these relationships with cut up pieces of colored construction paper, for example. These tangible experiences make fractions easier to grasp.

Speaker 1: 5:21

All right, our second subject language arts. Storytelling as an experience. I just love this idea. So Waldorf Education emphasizes that stories provide an experience for our children. Right, we introduce almost all new content with some sort of story. Now, we don't have to always tell the stories. Well-written stories we can read, but the experience of a story before engaging in literacy skills explicitly right, or before teaching literacy skills explicitly when learning letter formation, for example, instead of just copying the letters, we first draw images, pictures from stories we read or tell, like, as an example, for a mountain, for the letter M, or a snake for the letter S. The experience of hearing the story and then drawing a picture and seeing how the letter emerges from the image helps children have a sense of ownership of the alphabet, forming a connection with these letters and making writing an artistic and meaningful act. Here's another example Instead of starting with abstract grammar rules, we read or tell a lively fable or myth and then, as children retell or act out the story, we can naturally introduce parts of speech pointing out how adjectives add color and how verbs bring action.

Speaker 1: 7:02

Now our third subject today is science Observation before explanation. In Waldorf-inspired science we practice an approach called phenomenology, guiding children to observe nature or a scientific demonstration of a principle before offering explanations. Rather than starting with those abstract explanations, children are encouraged to observe the phenomenon directly. Here's an example Instead of starting with a diagram of the water cycle, we might watch steam rise from a pot, observe dew on the grass in the morning or feel rain on our faces. Through these experiences observation, reflection and discussion children begin to understand evaporation, condensation and precipitation before we introduce the terminology. They experience it with their whole body. Another example when studying physics, rather than stating objects fall at the same rate regardless of weight, we drop different objects from a height and observe what happens. Children see and experience and observe the principle before we put it into words. This way of studying science is quite different than most mainstream approaches, where students are introduced to the theory or formula and then shown how to conduct an experiment to prove that theory.

Speaker 1: 8:45

The experience comes first, all right. And our final subject is history, where we're stepping into the past and again embracing stories. Now for the study of history, rather than memorizing dates and events as a starting point, we invite children into the time period first. For example, when studying ancient Rome, instead of listing emperors and wars right away, we might start by hearing a story of Romulus and Remus drawing a map of the seven hills of Rome, after hearing a story about them or acting out a market scene. Through these experiences, children begin to feel what life was like before we then introduce historical analysis of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, for example. Another example here if we're studying westward expansion in America, we might begin by reading a historical novel or setting up a pretend pioneer camp. By stepping into the shoes of those who lived in that era, children develop an emotional connection to history before we explain the broader context and cause and effect. Now, in conclusion, I just want to say that the beauty of the experience before the explanation is that it aligns with how children naturally learn.

Speaker 1: 10:18

Children are doers, feelers, explorers, and they're constantly wondering how or why things happen the way that they do. Our goal is to get our children engaged in the learning, to spark their curiosity and encourage them to want to know more. When we honor their need to experience the world before defining it for them, we help them build this lifelong love of learning. As Aristotle said, for the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them. So as you plan your homeschooling days, ask yourself these questions how can I create an experience before introducing a concept? How can I make learning feel alive and meaningful for my children?

Speaker 1: 11:13

And if you want to experience firsthand how experiential learning works, join me and the team for the Tapper Teacher Training for Waldorf-inspired homeschoolers. That happens every August. It's an in-person, hands-on, immersive weekend where you'll not just learn about this method, but you'll get to experience it for yourself as if you were the child. You can check out the show notes for this episode at artofhomeschoolingcom slash, episode 221, the experience before the explanation. Thanks for joining me today. Keep creating beautiful experiences for your learners, and I'll see you next time on the Art of Homeschooling podcast. That's all for today, my friend, but here's what I want you to remember Rather than perfection, let's focus on connection. Thanks so much for listening and I'll see you on the next episode of the Art of Homeschooling podcast.