• Jul. 13, 2009 - Creating Indpendent Learners! (T4L'ing)
Teaching My Children To Be Thinkers And Not Followers!
If you were sitting next to me right now you would hear a big audible sigh. I am finally feeling like myself again. The month’s of May and June are a blur. It seemed like there was one thing after another. I was out of town more than I’ve probably ever been. All wonderful things that benefited my family and our home, but wore me out. (must be getting old, LOL)
One of the things I am most grateful for is how the Lord has faithfully helped me to find curriculum that works well for my family. In the midst of all the busyness school was still going STRONG! As I've homeschooled my children over the past twelve years I have found that independent learning programs help us to achieve our educational philosophy goal of creating lifetime learners. I don’t want to fill a bucket. I want to light a fire. I hope my children grow up and are excited about new information for the rest of their lives. I want them to know how to research, to dig, to explore and to find their own answers.
The two programs that have consistently allowed my children to work independently are Time4learning and A.C.E. One is computer and one is workbook. I use Time4Learning for language arts, reading and math and A.C.E. for history and science because it has a biblical worldview as it’s foundation. I am ecstatic to tell you that we have been able to school in the midst of all the business. My boys continue to learn and grow. Just the other day Seth walked up to me out of nowhere to tell me about the sun....., "Mom did you know the sun was a star?" (Big Happy Mama Smile) I asked him where he learned of this and he said, time4learning. (He had a tone of "duh" in his voice, LOL)
Don’t misunderstand, I LOVE reading aloud rich literature to my children. I LOVE hunkering down and doing a unit study. I LOVE watching educational shows together and letting that be the springboard to a trip to the library to dig deeper, but at the end of the day I want my boys to know how to think for themselves.
This past month in the midst of my craziness my boys would pop on their headphones, type in their username and password and begin their wonderful journey of self education. In the midst of my crazy busy life, on-line education has allowed our homeschool program to keep going STRONG! Yes, I still have to (want to) be available to answer questions, to have discussions, to check their work and to cheer them on, but I can let go of having to make lesson plans, pull things together, sit down and do the teaching.
My heart is at war with goals at times because I want to be apart of everything they are reading, thinking, learning and doing, but I have to tread cautiously as I don’t want to teach them to be dependent upon ME. One day they will leave my home and I want LIFETIME learners!
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• Aug. 14, 2009 - We Use Textbooks
Like you, during the hectic times my dc know what to do and still get their schoolwork done. Before almost all school had to stop.
Blessings,
Linda<><
Edited by Homeschooling6 on Aug. 14, 2009 at 9:22 AM