Real Life Learning

Classroom teachers try to imitate or approximate real life whenever they can, because they know such methods produce good learning. If you are teaching your child at home, you have an advantage over the classroom. Use it. Don't spend time trying to imitate the classroom.

Ruth Beechick

Harmonious Balance

Research in child development reveals that children receive the best foundation for future development and learning from a secure and responsive home environment in which understanding parents are the teachers. Although early childhood education is pushed and encouraged by many as a necessity for proper child development, many childhood specialists are assenting that most children are better off at home than being sent away to school at a young age. All things must be considered. The whole child is important, as each facet of his or her being works together to create an intelligent, well-rounded individual. It is important to harmoniously balance a child's faculties with his physical and emotional development. The development of the mind is important, but as Dr. Raymond Moore reminds us, "the body is the powerhouse for the young child's brain and central nervous system. A sound body and stable emotions provide a strong foundation for mental and social maturity. Without this soundness and stability, the child will not realize his greatest potential" [Better Late Than Early, page 9].

Being Happily Child Centered

Without professional training, simply by being herself, a concerned, loving mother usually can do more for her normal child than a teacher can.

Parents should, of course, be willing to learn new ideas.  But a mother need not be a trained teacher, nor does she need to teach in any formal way.

By using the framework of everyday home activities in a practical way, she can help her child learn as much as possible about the things around him.

The parents goal should be to respond to the child's questions in a patient, consistent and constructive way.  Forget about the pressures of achieving.

Cultivate the idea of being happily child centered, for the child is important.  Take advantage of his motivation of the moment.  Be happy that he is curious, and try to go along with his curiosities whenever you can.

Dr. Raymond Moore

Better Late Than Early, page 21

Discovering Answers for Themselves

In the role of teacher-parent, it is normal to become enthused and engaged in the process of educating your children.  If you are like me, you want to be helpful and quick to assist.  But, when helping a child develop individual thought and thinking skills, it is important to resist the impulse to become someone who supplies answers to questions instantly.  Instead, we should guide children toward discovering the answers for themselves.  We should as them what they think and encourage them to explore the reasoning behind what they say they think.  Active discussion between parent and child is important in this case.  Asking them questions and guiding them through the discovery process is a growth producing experience for them.  After a time, they may realize that they have been reflecting the thoughts of someone else rather than thinking on their own.  Answering questions too quickly when they could think for themselves is one cause of this.  They may also discover that they have few thoughts of their own because they have avoided mental exercise in the past.  Probing questions on your part work as a tool in guiding them along in the through process.  

* Encourage them to begin thinking their own thoughts now.

* Reward their mental efforts with words of praise ad encouragement.

* Acknowledge that thinking is hard work.

* Help them discover that it is also very satisfying.

Remember to let them do their thinking as much as possible.  Encouraging the exercise of thought is important in the role as teacher-parent.

Encouraging Individual Thought

Observing children make their own discoveries is rewarding to watch.  That light bulb moment, when a child says "Ahaaaaaaa!" as they experience discovery can be satisfying to both teacher-parent and child.  A child who has learned to think for himself or herself can derive a great sense of accomplishment, as can their parent who has guided them through the steps to learning to think on their own.  Encouraging individual thought is an important part of teaching a child to think and reason.  Although reflection and rote learning has its place,  the ability to evaluate is a more complex intellectual ability and should be encouraged as a goal in the process of educating the whole child.


Here are some suggestions which encourage individual thought:

* Show genuine interest in the child, encouraging their contribution to a topic.  It's important not only for bright children, but those who are slower than their peers as well.

* Be patient.  In our busy world, it's not often that people take time to really listen.  In your role as teacher-parent, you have the opportunity to offer them the opportunity to think their own thoughts.  Encourage them to share those thoughts and discuss with them.

* Persist gently.  Sometimes children may hesitate to share their thoughts because they are fearful of appearing ignorant or foolish.  By asking probing questions and inquiring about how they think, their fear can be overcome and they can be encouraged to verbalize their thoughts.

* Set an example.  Be willing to risk and show your own vulnerability in the learning process.  Be real in sharing your thoughts. 

* Avoid humor at the expense of the student.  Instead encourage and affirm.  

* Keep an open mind.  It's possible that you might learn something from your child.  Cautious skepticism is alright if it is coupled with respect of the rights who may choose to disagree with you.

*  Remember that we have the right to search for answers that satisfy us.  God gives children this same right.  A parent's role isn't to indoctrinate and brainwash, but rather to teach and inculcate principles by example and thoughtful guidance.  

To read more on this subject, visit here.

Learning in Ancient Israel

 

By contemplating how God led the Children of Israel in the wilderness for forty years, we can see a word picture of His educational techniques.  Before their foray into the wilderness, the Israelites had been slaves in Egypt.  Because of their years in slavery, they had become ignorant and untrained, without opportunities to develop their characters and minds.  After Moses led them out of slavery, God worked to provide opportunities for them to strengthen their characters and to expand their minds.   If we examine this period of history, we discover examples of some of the techniques God implemented in teaching the Israelites.  God used:


1)  Symbolism ~ God asked Moses to build a sanctuary so that He could live among the people, thereby showing them His character and of their need for Him.

2)  Hand’s on learning ~ God asked the people to work together, both intellectually and physically, as they planned and built the sanctuary.  Through labor they developed character traits that helped draw them closer to God and to one another.

3)  Character Development ~ God taught them cooperation and trust as they worked together on the sanctuary, thereby  developing Godly character traits.  Each experience they had in the wilderness taught them something that they needed to know and improved their characters accordingly.

4)  Expression & Singing ~ God taught them to sing as a way to internalize the commandments and lessons He exposed them to. 

5)  Exposure to Art ~ God taught them principles of art and symmetry as it was incorporated into the building of the sanctuary.  The sanctuary was not only functional and symbolic, but beauty of shape, form, color and symmetry was expressed using the finest of materials.

6)  Nature ~ God used lessons in nature, both natural and cultivated, to teach them of the patterns and lessons found in the cycle of life.

7)  Social contact ~  Through interaction with one another in a family and community atmosphere, God taught them sympathy and of the joy of fellowship with others.  Festivals and feasts were a means of providing for some of this interaction.

8)  Giving and care ~ God taught them responsibility and the spirit of giving through communal rules for the care and conduct of others within their community.

The education that Israel received during the years after their captivity included knowledge of God, time spent with him in work and study, and a multitude of opportunities and experiences that developed the character of each one.  God was the source of Israel’s education.

John Holt, Advocate of Home Education

 

John Holt (1923 – 1985) is best known as an educator and proponent of homeschooling. His views were considered radical and progressive. He once commented that “…the things I’m supposed to know so much about I never learned in schools”. During his lifetime, he studied children of all ages and worked as a fifth grade teacher. He found that babies and toddlers were bold and adventurous, but that by the time they reached ten years of age they became self-protecting, timid, and fearful. His research led him to believe that this was caused by fear, most of which was as a result of school experiences. He believed that children feared being ridiculed by their teacher and classmates and of having wrong answers to questions asked in school. He thought this trait was made worse by children being forced to study things that they had no interest in. It was his belief that the educational process be made much friendlier for children. He authored many books. His first, published in 1964, was called How Children Fail and it was very controversial. In it he said that he believed children failed academically because of schools, not despite of them. He believed that schools actually short circuited the learning process. His ideas about the educational process got many parents thinking and after some time families started to contact him, telling him that they were schooling their children at home. This started a relationship between him and the families of a budding homeschool movement. He started a newsletter called Growing Without Schooling in 1977 which focused on homeschooling. His philosophy of education is aptly voiced in his statement that “I don’t see homeschooling as some kind of answer to badness of schools. I think that the home is the proper base for the exploration of the world which we call learning or education. Home would be the best base no matter how good the schools were.” He was an advocate for educational reform until his death.

Work as a Part of Education

It is possible for a high school student to be complete academic classwork with three or four hours a day of study.  When using a true study, work, and service method of homeschooling high school students, the same principles of time management apply as they do for elementary children.  School is life and lasts during every waking hour!

By the time children are high school students, work is an essential element of their education. Instead of applying it daily, it works best to break study, work, and service into a total amount for an entire week.  Some days work best if heavier in academics while others were weighed more on work or service.

At the high school level, it seems that when using work for a meaningful part of education, it should be meaningful to the student.  There is some work that is required simply because a student is part of the family (cleaning their room, filling the dishwasher, mowing the lawn, etc.).  It is the work that happens because they are part of a family team. Other meaningful work happens because the student sets a goal and then works as a means to achieve it.  Parents can assist with this goal setting, but the student should be the main force in this decision-making process.  Simply giving the child more chores each week so they can get their time in doesn’t seem to work too well for teenagers!  But, if they get a vision for work, and it becomes purposeful for them — they will willingly stick to it and become involved in the benefits of work.  It may be that they establish a small business of their own (bread baking, housecleaning for a neighbor, babysitting, building computers, mowing lawns) or that they become employees in the business of one of their parents (generally they are allowed by law to work at a younger age if it is a family business).  For some children it may mean taking a job in town (working at a fast food restaurant, as a grocery bag boy or girl, or a daycare worker).  Their goal may start out simply as a way to earn their own money, but over time they generally become enthusiastic and cheerful in using work as a part of their education.

Another facet of work that can benefit the home school student is for the parent to establish internships for their teen.   It can be very effective in giving children opportunities to learn new tasks and to see if they were interested in a variety of careers.  To establish an internship:  choose a place the student is interested in working, then write a letter to the business owner or supervisor, requesting an internship for your child.  Be sure to emphasize that this is a volunteer position and that your child does not expect to be paid for their work.  Outline a schedule of 40 hours of volunteer work that fits into the schedule of the employer and the student.  When the 40 hours are complete, write another letter to the employer, thanking them for the opportunity they gave your child.  Along with the letter, send a form that evaluates your child’s performance in the tasks they were assigned.  Ask them to assign a ‘letter grade’ to your child for the work they did.  If you are using this as a part of a unit study (work/academics combined), this becomes their grade unless you choose to add a written paper or some other form of evaluation to the grade.   In that case, combine the grades according to percentages you establish.  Forty hours of work-study is equivalent to 1/2 high school credit.

Providing teens opportunity to use work as a part of their school program gives them the opportunity to apply bits, facts, and facets of information learned and apply them to their daily life.  Learning to work as a teen creates adults that have a strong work ethic, a greater sense of self-worth, and have a sense of incentive.

The World, a Book

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.”

~ Saint Augustine ~

A Home School

The tutorial system has never been excelled in education.  And the home has been its coziest nest.  Many of the great geniuses of the ages were largely schooled at home.  In fact, no one has ever improved on the reasonably well-managed home school.

Dr. Raymond Moore ~ Home Grown Kids, p. 20

Work, an Educational Tool

After studying how God used work as a natural method of teaching the children of the Old Testament many things, I started reviewing how this educational technique could be used as a method in a successful homeschool.  Teaching a child how to work cheerfully and accomplish tasks successfully is as important as teaching them to use their minds.  These concepts, together with service to others, create a child that is well-adjusted and able to not only function in society, but to thrive!  Jesus said that his Father worked, therefore He worked as well [John 5:17].  Since He is to be our example, it makes sense that productive work be incorporated as a part of every home schooled child’s day.

Home educated children can participate in two general types of work:  useful and gainful.  Useful work is an action that supports the well-being of self and of others in the home.  It includes the daily tasks that make a home function well and create an inviting place to spend time.   On the other hand, gainful employment relates to the marketplace and earning an income.  This term refers to a first job, like delivering newspapers, to a career in adulthood.  Both types of work are beneficial to the homeschooled child when used age appropriately.

In future posts, both types of work and how they relate to educating the whole child will be explored.

Chores Contribute to Confidence in Life

We usually call “useful work” by another name:  chores.  These are the tasks that are done to keep our living environment clean, healthy, comfortable, and attractive.  In a home that operates smoothly, they are done routinely and without compensation.  They are done simply because one lives in their dwelling place.  In the life of a busy home school parent (usually the mother), it is important that chores be delegated in order to share the load.  With children at home all day long, and the added responsibility of planning and implementing the education process, a mother can find that there are simply not enough hours in the day.  It is important that the entire family works together as a team to keep things running smoothly. 
 
Children should be encouraged, even required, to participate in chores.  Although they might not always do them willingly, a steady routine will become comfortable and any complaining about the work will be reduced with consistence.  Because the children are part of the family team, and because they live in the home, an allowance should not be paid for regular home tasks.  There may be times when something above and beyond daily home care needs attended to, and those times can be set aside for “gainful employment” and money paid for doing the job. 

Chores are good for children for a number of reasons.  They give a child a sense of competence as they realize that they are a contributor to the family unit.  Children need to be needed, and chores are a great way to keeping that in view.  Chores give them a sense of place.  Through daily work, children are taught self-sufficiency and responsibility.  Helpful habits are developed that will assist the child as he or she transitions into adulthood.  Additionally, useful work keeps children occupied in a positive and productive manner.  It helps keep boredom away! 

Chores help the family unit function in a cohesive way and they provide the child with skills that will benefit him or her for life!

Assigning Chores and Making them Interesting

Family chores are tasks that contribute to keeping a household run smoothly.  They are duties that the whole family participates in, not just mom, dad, or children.  Certain tasks may always belong to specific individuals in the family, but the others can be divided up and traded off to make things more interesting for everyone.  When working with children, it is important to remember that they are best motivated with mom or dad work with them.  This doesn’t mean that the parents are doing the children’s chores, but rather that everyone has a designated time when they are all doing their assigned chores.
 
Some chores are automatic and should be done routinely every day.  When waking up in the morning, children can get dressed, comb their hair, make their bed, tidy their room, put their dirty clothes in the laundry room, feed the pets, and set the table for breakfast.  When required routinely these tasks become habit and over time they will happen automatically.  In our family, the rule was that pets always get fed before humans.  This included the sheep, pony, turkey, and chickens! 

Other tasks may not be so routine.  If there is more than one child in the family, it is more interesting to trade-off, especially is there are some jobs that are not as desirable as others.  Some of the techniques we used in our family for allotting chores were:

1.  Write down all the tasks that need done on individual slips of paper.  Take turns pulling a chore out of a hat, going back and forth until all the chores are selected.

2.  Make a list of chores that need done.  Take turns having the children choose which chores they would like to sign up for.  Use a different colored marker for each child and highlight those items they chose.  This gives them a sense of empowerment, as they get to choose their chores.  It’s true that these are the same chores that could simply be assigned.

3. Sign up for some chores and that are traded off weekly with another family member.  For example, empty the dishwasher for one week, and for the next week fill it.  Empty the wastebaskets in the house one week, and the next week sweep the kitchen floor.  Some chores won’t be as desirable as others, but the child knows that once his or her week is up, they get a break the next week while another family member does the task. 

4.  Allow for something interesting to happen while a chore is being done.  Folding laundry while watching a nature DVD turns the task into a family event.

5.  Occasionally make a game out of household chores.  Hide a surprise under objects that the child can find when dusting the furniture.  A nickel under a vase, a stick of sugarless gum behind a picture frame, or a coupon for a cookie from mom all provide incentive and challenge. 

6.  If the house has become cluttered, set the oven timer for 5 minutes and have everyone pick things up and put them away, counting how many objects they cared for.  Have a reward for the person that put the most things away.  The reward may simply be that mom or dad will do their next assigned chore.


7.  Another technique for a cluttered house is to give each person the task of putting away twenty things.  This is conducted like a race, seeing who can put away twenty things fastest.

8.  Teach children to put away things as they complete a project.  Toys, craft supplies, and school books used should be put away before they move on to another activity.  After a meal, have each family member take their dirty dishes to the sink.  It helps if they are asked to each choose three or four things on the table and carry them to the kitchen as well.


9.  Make a chore chart.  Give children a sticker for completing each chore.  At the end of the week, count their stickers.  Have a reward system where the children receive a prize for achieving their goal.  Stickers are not given for chores done in a complaining manner, even if the chore was eventually completed. 

10. Chores work best if done on a consistent schedule.  Our family found that the time between breakfast and starting school activities for the day worked best.  Generally an hour is enough time to allot for daily family chores. 

Age appropriate chores can be assigned from toddler years until a child leaves home.  They help to establish habits of good home management and the child will reap rewards for a lifetime!  Useful work is a strong component in educating the whole child.

Working Outside with Kids

Outside chores are valuable because they give a child the opportunity to expend energy in a useful and purposeful way.  Exercise, a sense of accomplishment, and a feeling of contribution to the family all result from age-appropriate tasks in the yard or garden.  Sometimes a parent might assign jobs outside simply because they need done and they think kids should do them.  I can remember stories in books that were written to develop character in children.  Often they were a variation of the same theme; a child who was supposed to hoe three rows of corn before they went to play, but got bored with the task and simply covered the weeds with fresh dirt.  In not time at all, the weeds took over the garden and their lack of diligence was made known.  Although there is nothing wrong with assigning rows of weeding, outside chores can be so much more!  They can be fulfilling, interesting, and even fun!  When a family works together in the yard or garden, a sense of teamwork and accomplishment result.  Weeding a flower bed with a sibling, or raking leaves with dad can create memories of companionship that will stay with a child for life.  Routines, incentives, and traditions also help children develop an enjoyment for working outside.  Over time, the skills learned can be applied to gainful employment as they reach the age that they can work for neighbors or others in the community, thus earning pocket-money of their own.  Here are some tips for working with children outside:


1.  Generally outside chores are done simply because a child lives in the home.  They are a part of their contribution to the family.  Sometimes extra chores are required outdoors, and those that are above and beyond routine maintenance can be compensated for with a reasonable amount of pay. 

2.  Traditions can make outdoor work meaningful.  In our family, it was tradition for Grandmother to come visit for a week during spring break.  During that week she would help her grandchildren till the soil for individual gardens, then take them to buy plants and seeds.  Together they would plant the gardens, adding whirligig, little fences, and pathways through the gardens.  After she went home, the gardens were carefully tended by the children because they had meaning to them.

3.  Payment for extra jobs provides incentive.  Weeding a flower bed can be a daunting task — unless mother pays 5 cents a weed for each one pulled up by the roots!  If a flower garden is too weedy and mother would go broke by paying that much per weed, another type of payment system could be used.  Twenty-five cents per section (marked by little flags or stakes) is good incentive.  Generally, it is not recommended that young children be paid an hourly rate for pulling weeds.  They will enjoy the experience more if they are allowed to work at their own pace, and mother will not feel the urge to be prodding them on constantly at their task.

4.  Sometimes tasks are not appreciated until something is taken away for a while.   In our family, mowing the lawn was the boys job once they became of appropriate age.  Sometimes dad would mow around the trees and edges, but the main lawn was a job the boys took turns doing.  Dad would follow-up with the weed eating.  Because dad had grown up with an old-fashioned push mower and a five acre lawn, he felt he was honoring his boys by providing them with a nice John Deere lawn mower and a lawn of less than two acres.  But, since they hadn’t experienced the push mower and larger lawn for themselves, they weren’t too impressed.  One day, the eldest decided that mowing the lawn was a task he did not want to do, and much grumbling took place.  Instead of lecturing and choosing a punishment that simply grounded him or took away a privilege, father decided that an object lesson would work the best.  He quietly, yet firmly removed the keys from the riding lawn mower and prepped the push-mower for action.  The son was set to work mowing the lawn by pushing rather than riding the lawn mower.  It was an effective lesson and the eldest never again complained about mowing the lawn. 

5.  A family afternoon of pruning shrubs and trees can be fun!  Hauling the branches to a place where they can dry or be dealt with later is interesting if they can be hauled with the riding lawn mower and attached trailer.  Burning branches that have dried creates a great campfire for roasting hot dogs and marshmallows as the evening nears.  Mixing work with pleasure can make a task less tedious.

6.  Giving a child task that shows them that a parent values their abilities lets them know you have confidence in them.  Giving them tools and instruction for replacing broken sprinkler heads or repairing a broken sprinkler pipe can relay the message that you value their capabilities and input.

7.  Simple jobs, like picking flowers and arranging them in a vase can provide beauty to the home and joy in the heart!

Developing Age Appropriate Employment Opportunities

Children through the ages have been given opportunities to earn money through gainful employment.  When used appropriately, it helps children develop character and a good work ethic.  It gives them an opportunity to explore the world and apply the things they have learned in academia to real life.  The sense of worth that productive work gives to a child is of substantial value.  Work, when used as a part of a home school curriculum, helps to form values, skills, and knowledge that develop the entire child.

When using work as a part of a homeschool program, there are several things to consider:

1.  Work should be appropriate to the age of the child.  It should not be tedious or forced, but rather something that engages the interest of the child and inspires them to participate.

2. When working with young children, participating with them encourages them and develops positive attitudes.  A team approach works best.

3. The amount of time spent working should be tailor-made to the needs and abilities of the child.
4.  It should assign enough responsibility for the child to grow, but not so much that it overwhelms and stresses them. 

5.  Work that inspires creativity and positive attitude is priceless! 

6.  It is important to teach the child how to budget the money earned through gainful work.  Developing a saving, tithing, and spending plan that works will benefit the child for years to come.

Gainful work can be tailor-made to a child’s interests and abilities.  Babysitting, mowing lawns, and setting up a lemonade stand are just the beginning of a world of possibilities when it comes to gainful work.  Applying these principles will be discussed in a future post.

Implementing the Moore Formula

 

The Moore Formula recommends a relaxed and natural style for homeschooling. Dr. Raymond Moore was an advocate of the homeschool, and discouraged teaching by the creation of a school at home. His approach incorporates children into the daily tasks of life, with a great deal of interaction between parent and child all day long. Learning tasks are selected purposefully, but approached casually and with fun. Basic skills are integrated and reinforced through games, verbal interaction with the parent, and by application. Academics are limited to one or two hours a day, even at the upper grade levels. According to Moore, “much of the day is framed around the children’s interests with work and service that builds genuine golden-rule citizens and successful entrepreneurs” [Home School Burnout p. 13].  His method encourages that children be allowed to grow as naturally as possible, with a guidance and discipline that promotes discipleship and self-control. [Ibid p. 13] His method incorporates a four-point formula which can be used by anyone dealing with the education of children. This informal approach to learning involves having the child spend as little time in formal education as possible. This includes eliminating conventional homework. Instead, children are encouraged to work with parents in family industries and in church or with non-school organizations like 4-H, Scouts, or hospital volunteers. Family time, playing games and learning skill building which capitalizes on writing, singing, and learning math facts, is encouraged as a positive and happy time. Programs like Math-It and Winston Grammar are helpful tools for accomplishing this. Scary? Yes, but possible? Absolutely! It has been proven over and over again that children not only learn and keep up with their peers by this approach, but thrive and surpass them in the long run. Additionally, children who’s parents approach learning by this approach do not suffer from educational burn-out and apathy. The Moore approach can be used successfully not only in the early elementary years, but through all through elementary and high school years. It is sometimes difficult for parents to break out of the box of traditional educational expectations, but once done success is key!

Hand-Made and Customized Education

“True home schooling is tutorial, hand-made, customized to each child. Such parents respond to their children in a loving, informal way, a balance between systematic structure where needed and a great deal of freedom for youngsters to explore.”
 
~ Raymond S. Moore

Inquiry and Curiosity

"It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry.
 
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education."

Albert Einstein

Well-Adjusted Children

“The price for bright, well-adjusted children. . .warm parent responses, high family values, and a lot of opportunity to explore.”

Raymond S. Moore

Teaching to Think

"The most necessary task of civilization is to teach people how to think.  It should be the primary purpose of our [public] schools.  The mind of a child is naturally active, it develops through exercise.  Give a child plenty of exercise, for body and brain.  The trouble with our way of educating is that it does not give elasticity to the mind.  It casts the brain into a mold.  It insists that the child must accept.  It does not encourage original thought or reasoning, and it lays more stress on memory than observation."

Thomas Edison