Training a Mind to Think

I love this quote.  

Education is not the learning of facts but the training of the mind to think.
-Albert Einstein

This explains a major goal for my family.  It is a desire of mine that each of my kids leaves our home with a mind that is always thinking, processing, and learning instead of memorizing and regurgitating facts.  

Too often when my kids invite their friends to join them in something they enjoy doing, their friends resist explaining that the activity seems too much like school.  

What?!

This time it was a Finders Seekers puzzle designed for adults that GM invited friends to complete with her.  One friend who enjoys an intellectual challenge did not hesitate to join her.  The other friend shrugged it off, not wanting to participate in the "school-ish" work.  

In this puzzle of 10 different challenges, those taking part must think outside the box, research, and work together to solve each challenge.  The solution to each challenge gives you a clue that leads to the ending puzzle answer.  The work is hard but rewarding as you push beyond your intellectual limits.  The girls needed me to help find hints a couple of times but ultimately finished to puzzle on their own.  

When allowed to explore new ways of learning and time to challenge themselves, kids will often train their mind to think instead of just passively letting someone pour facts into their head.  The intrinsic reward this method provides has each craving more opportunities to learn.