Bunny School - Education Tailored to Delight

I have shared before about the books we have used and projects we have done and so forth, but this blog post is more about how you could bring a theme or specific interest that your child has all together to build a full curriculum based on that.  My child's special interest is rabbits-- how can that be enough to cover all the subjects?  We have covered (with bunnies!) reading, writing, math, history, science, good citizenship, geography, art and some practical life skills.

"Follow the Child, but follow the child as their  ."  -- Maria Montessori

Three thinking tree books that are quite rabbit themed!  

The two on the left are basically the same style inside "core journal" type that you can use many books with and they could easily be used one after the other if your child goes through it more quickly.  The core funschool books are how they can practice writing and art and keep some variety and surprise in the "work book" part of school.  I like having something to look back at and see what they were learning and each stage.  The Bible verse one on the right is learning spelling of course, but in the context of Bible verses!  You can see a video showing the inside of the Bible verse books here. and to see the insides of the two core journals (along with some others to compare) the video to see inside those two is here.


My middle daughter turned 9 years old the beginning of March and she has been in love with bunnies for a few years now.  It became very apparent how special rabbits were to her as she was choosing anything and everything that had a bunny on it.  She had a collection of bunny toys, dressed up as a bunny for Halloween, and prayed for a bunny every day the full month of December.

It isn't as easy as you might think to find good rabbit themed documentaries or fiction shows.  These two are our favorites.

Our little 1,000 sq ft town home apartment isn't the best place to have a rabbit, BUT I decided to make it work when we found the perfect little pet rabbit for her.  And here is how I've made her homeschool all about Rabbits!  Any and every picture book with a rabbit was borrowed from the library and many were purchased from amazon.

We especially liked "The Rabbit Problem" as it was a great way to talk about math and Fibonacci's sequence.  I borrowed books from the library about Fibonacci as well and read those to my girls after we read through this book. 

"Wonder Bunny" is a math racing game to help kids more quickly solve math problems.  I started at an easier level because I wanted her to memorize the math facts and feel successful.  Since then we've added the next one and both my older girls are enjoying playing the racing game.

She doesn't particularly like math so bringing rabbits into the process of learning math has enchanted this process for her and she is learning more easily and I am seeing less resistance than before I added the rabbits to this!  My oldest actually liked math pretty well so just using Life of Fred and math practice books wasn't a problem for her.  I didn't necessarily have to add cats to math specifically though we did have many cat themed games and puzzles, but for my middle daughter the added bunnies have been quite helpful and fun for us all too!

Reading aloud while having a little picnic with the bunny is also a great way to cheer up our homeschool!  The Rabbit is a hottot mix and he is full grown in the picture above.  Lovely little size and his name is "Pepper" - his favorite foods are steel cut oats, fresh basil, cilantro, and peppermint. And of course the obvious carrot.

Lots and lots of books to take turns reading or for me to read to her that have rabbits in them!  Even her favorite "Princess in Black" had monsters that looked like bunnies (only they would eat any and everything!)

One of the first books a few years ago that she expressed real interest in was the book "I am a Bunny" possibly because the pictures are so lovely!  I jumped on her interest and had her copy the entire book! (NOT all in one go, but a sentence at a time to learn spelling in context and how to read.)  Since then her bunny book collection has grown and she decided she loved Peter Rabbit and Beatrix Potter (she has the full collection of books on cd to listen to.)

How do you get history in when your theme is bunnies?  Beatrix Potter of course!  The book above is huge and amazing!  Of course we watched the "Miss Potter" movie as well to compare and found other books about her.

Beatrix Potter not only has lovely art, and gives a chance to explore her time in history a hundred years ago, but also inventions and fashion and what life was like then for women.  The words she uses are also not all what we would use today, so broadening vocabulary is totally going on with this little study.

She enjoyed watching this movie with me even though some of it was over hear head.

The quite spoiled bunny who makes his home in our dining room also has a free standing fence that we can put out and he can jump in and out of his cage.  The picture above is how my daughter had decorated his cage with rose petals (which are edible and he loved them!) Talk about spoiled, right? ;)

All my girls like to play minecraft and will skype with their cousins or uncle while playing so the minecraft themed book below is perfect!  Of course my middle daughter has a whole farm of bunnies in her minecraft world.  There are two minecraft core books by the thinking tree and the one below is animal and farming themed while the other is more mining and mineral and rock focused and I think works better for older kids (unless they were just REALLY into rocks and mining!)

One of the inside pages.  Of course this is her favorite with the bunny!

To see a video of the inside of this minecraft book you can click here.

On a walk with his leash and harness.

 I bought a ukulele for myself for my birthday this year (to learn a new skill!) And she was excited about learning too.  I told her that if she learned to play one song (her choice) I would get her one that she picked.  Of course she chose the ukulele with the bunnies on it!

 She also changed the words of the lava song to being about a lonely bunny.  I quickly jotted it down and we figured out some changes and such.  She likes it in C even though it is and little lower and she learned it in D as well.

Many times during our school time when she is feeling down and worn out (even before we start sometimes!) she will perk up when she gets to run over and hug her bunny.

A few pictures from her bunny themed birthday party!  Of course if you wanted a party school or poetry teatime with their special interest that could totally work too.  School, and especially HOME school doesn't need to be distasteful and serious.  We can turn our learning into a celebration and enjoy it!  Our kids can learn reading, writing, math, history, science, art, good citizenship, and even more ALL with their special interest woven into it.  When the child gets older they might pick a "Major" to really research deeply into, but until the teen years I think of it more as a special interest and theme to go with.

Science?  Yes, a few trips to the vet and some real life experience besides the books we have read are all adding to her education.  Some of this has been a bit emotionally taxing as well, but overall has definitely been the right choice.

Here are a few pictures from when he was a baby.  Such a tiny little sweet heart.  The key to having a bunny is to keep calm and quiet.  I have a hard time keeping my youngest from moving too quickly or swinging him around and such, but my middle daughter is the perfect temperament to enjoy being quiet with her bunny.

How little he was the day we got him (above) and how much he has grown (below!) He is a medium to smaller size in the rabbit world though, but just right for what she wanted.

When he was still a baby his fence was tiny too.  I love how a pet can encourage a child to read.  It's time to practice reading, but hey, you can read to your pet so that's not so bad right?

I hope this has helped you think of ideas for your own kids!  Their special interest is likely different from my daughters, but the principles are the same.  Do some research and follow some google and amazon searches with your child's special interest in mind.

As Maria Montessori said "Follow the child, but follow the child as their leader." 

 I'm following the interest of my child, but we aren't only reading about the anatomy of rabbits as you can see--  We can us their special interest to enchant all their subjects!  As my daughter works through some of these books we might not be at a time in her education where EVERYTHING is rabbit themed like right now.  She is already getting into reading about mermaids and fashion and cooking have always been interesting to her, so I can see her themes growing as she does.  People ask if our kids interests are enough.  "Don't they need to learn more?"  Yes, they need to learn more, but we can use their interests -- that spark -- to flare up and give it fuel to grow and then spark to something else.

"Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire." W.B. Yeats

Follow their interests and fuel those sparks!