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.

The Inquiry Process

Teaching children to think for themselves is a process that the teacher-parent can encourage in a variety of ways.  Fostering individual thought is important in the educational process.  A child's learning begins during the process of formulating their own questions.  There are several techniques that can be used to help a child develop an inquiry process to problem solving:


* Encourage the child to raise questions.


* Create a safe environment so they feel comfortable asking any question.


* Be patient while they figure out what words to use to express their thoughts and concerns.


* Remind the child that there are no stupid questions.  Any question is valid and should be treated with serious respect.


* If you don't know the answer to a question the child asks you, openly admit that you don't know.  


* Set an example by modeling the process of searching for satisfying answers.


* Resist the impulse to become an instant supplier of answers to their questions.  Be supportive in helping them find the answer by other means.

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.  

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Individuality and Power to Think

"Every human being, created in the image of God, is endowed with a power akin to that of the Creator --- individuality, power to think and do. . . It is the work of true education to develop this power, to train the youth to be thinkers, and not mere reflectors of other men's thought."

Education, page 17

The Value of Teaching a Child How to Think

Teaching children how to think can be difficult.  In contrast, teaching children to merely reflect the thoughts of others is simple in comparison.  Think about it for a minute.  Requiring children to memorize and repeat correct answers can be done by practice and repetition.  Sometimes it is necessary to learn this way, like in the case of memorizing times tables or equations.  But the way a child learns best and retains knowledge is when he or she can reason and comprehend why things happen.  Knowing how and why helps him or her understand and apply it to his or her field of knowledge and usefulness.  When a child learns to think for themselves, they achieve a level of growth and autonomy that surpasses students who simply memorize facts and figures.  Even the subject of spelling requires more than mere memorization.  Critiquing words and how they are spelled based upon phonics and rules of the English language requires reasoning abilities.  Teaching thinking necessitates several things.  Using an inquiry method of instruction, where problems are directed to the student and where the student is given time to think and solve is one of them.  Comparison and contrast, evaluation, and questioning are all necessary components in creating thinkers.  Giving the student the ability to evaluate and make judgments teaches them to think for themselves.  If you are asking your child to list, label, match, name, or recall information, you are teaching them to be reflectors of the thinking of others.  But, if your instructional technique leads them to interpret, discriminate, defend, critique, appraise, or explain something, you can be sure you are on the pathway to teaching your child how to think.  This is the challenge of educating the student, but one that reaps great rewards!

Creating Inventive Thinkers

“The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done – men who are creative, inventive and discoverers” 

Jean Piaget