5 ways to cultivate creativity, for a life fully lived…

“All children are artists, and it is an indictment of our culture that so many of them lose their creativity, their unfettered imaginations, as they grow older.”
—Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water

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We were neck-deep in The Story of the World history curriculum. The Kingfisher and Usborne encyclopedias were stacked high on my lap, the kids leaning in close, interrupting every other sentence with, “What’s that?” “Why did they do that?” “What does that word mean?”  (Every lesson takes twice as long when the kids are actually learning something.)  I glanced at the clock; I was way behind schedule for the morning. We had finished the lesson on archeology, when both kids jumped up off the couch, a surge of creativity lighting their eyes:

“I know! Mommy, can we do an archeology dig right now? Can we dig for clues about what people used to live like? And can we put all the clues together and make a book about it?!!”

I glanced down at the list of “school” left for the day and knew what the right answer was:

“Absolutely! Let’s go!”

Within two minutes they were dressed for adventure—bandanas, notebooks, magnifying glass. The rest of the afternoon was spent outside, digging in the dirt. Sticks were dinosaur bones, rocks were bits of weaponry, some old weed-barrier cloth was surely primitive clothing.

Someday their cursive may be sorely lacking, but their creativity will never be. 

See, the cultivation of creativity is one of our homeschooling goals. Why? … {Read the rest here, even if you don’t homeschool! Hope this can be an encouragement to you. Thanks for reading!}