Learning Recipes for Summer

This is a great idea from Sarah's lovely blog, Amongst Lovely Things (Reggio notes and observations):

~Dialogue observations: I haven't been doing these as often, but when I do them, they are treasures! I simply sit in the room with the children as they are playing, and write down everything that's happening- all the dialogue, all the interactions. I write it as objectively as I can. It's very insightful material to come back to and reflect on (and it's fun and sometimes quite hilarious, too!)

It totally suits my combination of unschooly methods and desire to plan and record. I think I will try it for this summer along with Meredith's quote from Karen Andreola in her post on Summer School:

If you don't like the idea of "calling it quits" entirely during the summer, narration from whole books can leisurely supply any bored child with new ideas on long summer days. How could you keep it casual and informal, paying heed to any spontaneous narrations? Can you think of any fun books you'd like to introduce to the children this summer?

Also, I like the idea of discerning what is working for you presently and what isn't. The standard by which you discern is:

...working with children in a way that reflects our values and vision.