What is Immersive Story Learning? (The Long Version)

My children hate worksheets. If it includes cutting and pasting, "No, I'm not going to do that." If it involves tracing, "No, that's boring." Coloring, "That's too hard, too much to color."

I've been at a bit of a loss over this. Myself, I LOVED these preschool and kindergarten activities as a child. I remember proudly filling up my "done" folder with them. I was told I couldn't do anymore scissor skill sheets because I was doing too many of them. I filled up all my letter tracing books and moved on to cursive ones before kindergarten because I wanted to trace more and only the cursive ones were left. So this made me wonder, what's wrong with my kids that they aren't doing this?

Absolutely nothing. The better question is, what was wrong with me? I'm not going to try to answer that one. Long story slightly shorter, worksheets and practice drills are boring to most children and this isn't the children's fault.

Have you read anything about Waldorf learning? I have, and they are on to something. They believe (these are my words) that instead of translating our adult ideals (it's good to sit still, listen, do boring work with little meaning behind it because that's what everyone else is doing) into the world of children, we should allow the children to be children. A child will tell you what they need. PLAY! They need lots and lots of play. Storytelling, make-believe, dressing up, role-playing, getting their hands dirty. It's incredibly simple.

Hmm... so this left me in a difficult position because although my kids are normal play-loving children, I'm still the worksheet loving Mom that wants them to sit at their table with crayons and scissors quietly producing homogeneous projects for me to proudly display on the fridge. Don't judge me.

Thus enters Immersive Story Learning. My children love stories: listening to them, telling them, acting them out. All that needed to happen was for me to immerse them into a story, make them a character, make the other characters come to life, make learning a part of the story.

Finally, an opportunity for me to use that creative writing degree I got after deciding I was going to be a best selling romance novelist (this never panned out). Now my children can learn about Farmer Fred who thrust his hands deep into the supple earth, gently parting it to harvest the delicate and moist potatoes. Completely joking, just making sure you're not falling asleep.

Now, learning is truly fun for my little ones. They listen and participate in a story, while I trick them into doing "worksheets". Win-win.

Here is a free sample of one of my Immersive Story Learning adventures:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Free-No-Prep-Christmas-Adventure-Packet-4226036

Please let me know how this plays out with your little ones!