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Sep. 3, 2005
To School or Not to School
Another one of the many nuggets of wisdom I gained at Katherine Dang's
seminar in KS was that I am not a homeschooler. I am a home
educator. Why is it that we pull our kids out of school, only to
rush out and turn our homes into a school? We purchase
chalkboards, white boards, text books, workbooks and posters. We
draw up schedules so rigid, we may as well wire in a school bell to
ring every 45 minutes. While reading Shannon's blog,
I realized what a strong desire we have to teach using the same methods
of teaching used in school. If a child doesn't understand or is
not performing up to expectations, we give them more of the same.
But we are home educators. We have the incredible freedom to let
go of all these environmental trappings that evoke images of "school"
in our minds and really teach our children's. We have the unique
opportunity to minister directly to their heart and soul rather than
try to program correct responses in a cold and sterile
environment. Reading can be taught snuggling on the couch.
Science can be discovered laying on a blanket under the stars.
Math can be explored while baking a cake. Now, I haven't exactly
figured out how to report that schedule to the state, but my record
keeping is not my primary focus in educating my children, either.
Shannon discovered crochet as a means to improving handwriting.
Here are some more great activities for early reading development and
handwriting that are often overlooked. Remember that this process
is largely about fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and shape
recognition.
crocheting, knitting and sewing
puzzles
play dough, clay, kneading bread, cookie cutting
painting and coloring
cutting with scissors
gluing and pasting
collages and mosaics
finger rhymes
string games
using a hole puch
trying to hold those little squishy toys that are made to slip out of your fingers
legos, K'Nex, Tinkertoys
stringing beads
finger soccer (we had uniforms for our fingers and played with an old foozball)
braiding
Lite-Brite, pegboards, geoboards
eating with chopsticks
games like Jenga, pick-up sticks and even dominoes and cards
simple magic tricks
Oh yeah. You could always print off another worksheet and have
them copy until they burst into tears. But it is my personal view
that if a child is not ready for a skill, making them perform it poorly
leads only to frustration. You need to back up, assess what the
root of the difficulty is and provide them opportunities to be
successful until they are ready.
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