How to Succeed at Home Education: Principle #2

Imagine you are taking a walk through a park with a loved one who is also a trusted mentor and friend. She tells you that this park is brimming with wondrous sights and sounds, and she promises to show you all of the best ones. This thrills you, and fills you with exciting anticipation.

First she points out a song bird high up in an evergreen tree. Initially it's hard to see, being so far away, but soon you focus in and catch a glimpse. Questions begin to fill your mind, but before you get the chance to think twice, your friend is pulling on your arm to move you on to the next thing: a beautiful rose bush to your right. You begin to crouch down to smell it, only to be interrupted yet again. "You will just love this next thing," she says. But by now you are thinking, "How can I love it when I don't get a chance to slow down and enjoy anything? Don't we have more than enough time to experience it all?"

Suddenly, out of the corner of your eye, you see a snail inching its way along the pavement. You tell your friend you'd like to go touch it and get a closer look. Her response: "No time for that now! We'll get to that later. Right now I have something else you need to see." You are really beginning to feel some whiplash from all this, as well as a sense of pointed disinterest in whatever she intends to lead you to next.

Does this scenario seem vaguely familiar? It should. This is what happens in public schools all the time. It's a natural byproduct of the need to educate large groups of kids while keeping order and equality. Everyone must learn particular things in each specific grade in a certain order. This is unfortunate, but understandable.

The true tragedy in my mind is that so many families take the leap into home education and then simply attempt to pattern home education after public education. It is one of the most prevalent mistakes I see in the homschooling world, and it is a pity because it fails to take full advantage of the opportunities homeschooling has to offer. Instead, I propose that we glean the best educational approaches and practices we can find and apply them at home. The following principles all fall into this category.

Principle #2:  Make homeschooling a lifestyle choice instead of a daily event.

It is very tempting to "do school" daily at home. This seems natural and harmless. The problem is that segregating school time (learning time) from "real life" compartmentalizes two things which were never meant to be apart. To live is to learn. Children know this intuitively and act accordingly, showing curiosity and excitement about new concepts and ideas... until we train it out of them by setting aside a particular time and place to learn and turning it into a checklist item, thus transforming education into a chore.

If you want to succeed at giving your children a world class education, it is all about the environment, atmosphere, and lifestyle.

Environment
Create an environment conducive to learning. Books to peruse are a must. Begin now to collect your own library of classics and children's books, and frequent your local library maxing out your card if you must! Easy access to the internet in a prominent area is ideal for a learning environment. In our home, my personal computer is hooked up to the TV. This way we can quickly access pictures, definitions, music, or online resources as needed. Consider cleaning and collecting leftover food containers and allow your children to play with and explore them as well as any other materials you can easily get your hands on.

(Be prepared to embrace the chaos and mess. I will readily admit that I am not good at this, but I am convinced of its importance. Children allowed to freely explore their surroundings will show more curiosity and interest in a wider variety of things.)

Atmosphere
Create an atmosphere of learning. This might mean an attitude change or paradigm shift on your part. Learning is fun! No really--it is!  :)  Develop an enthusiasm for learning and let it show. Pursue your own education. Read, write, do math, explore whatever subjects excite you, and discuss what you're learning frequently with your child. Enthusiasm truly is contagious.

Ask your child lots of questions and always answer their questions to you. If you don't know, say, "I don't know, but I know how to find out!" and show them! Google it, look it up in an encyclopedia, or check out a book on the topic from the library. Before long, you might be surprised how many different interests your child is pursuing at once. They need to feel safe to ask questions and be enthusiastic, and they will undoubtedly love sharing the thrill of new knowledge with you.

Lifestyle
Homeschooling isn't something you do, it is who you are and how you live. Learning begins at birth, so homeschooling begins at birth. Remember that you are trying to cultivate curiosity and a love of learning. Form your lifestyle to meet these ends.

I want you to develop "new eyes" designed for homeschooling. These new eyes are going to help you recognize the power of the moment and harness it, no matter when that moment comes, (i.e. during dinner, chores, nap-time, right before bed, driving in the car, etc.)

This can be particularly difficult when it comes to naughty behavior. Believe it or not, much of what we label as "naughty" behavior is actually just curiosity and experimentation. By ALL MEANS, punish truly naughty (read: rebellious) behavior, but be gentle with your little explorer-scientist! Lay down ground rules and limits, and enforce them. But use your new eyes to quickly recognize the signs of a curious and ready mind, and pounce on that opportunity! Lead the little one to safe and acceptable ways of exploring, experimenting, and pursuing his interests.

I like to call these little opportunities "learning launching pads." They give you a clue into what your child is going to be particularly receptive to right now and a point from which to launch into either greater depth or variety of topics. For example, my two-year-old had a week where she just kept sneaking into the bathroom, turning on the water and proceeding to pump out an entire bottle of hand soap. I got so frustrated each time the door was left open again and my patience ran very short. Until one day it occurred to me that she was fascinated with the bubbles. (Light bulb moment!) I took her into the kitchen, filled a bowl with some milk, gave her a straw, and then showed her how to make bubbles by blowing through it. She was delighted! Yes, she still made a mess. But I didn't mind it nearly so much when my paradigm shifted to see it as a learning moment instead of just naughty behavior.

"Learning launching pads" can come in all sorts of forms: questions, incessant talking about a particular topic, "naughty" behavior (as discussed above,) obsession with a certain toy or book. The best thing about these launching pads is that depending on your child's age, you can take their intense interest and expand it to cover everything from history, to science, to math, to literature, and so on.

All of this boils down to the fact that I believe in child-led learning, but it is incomplete unless it is properly parent-facilitated child-led learning.

As you develop the environment, atmosphere, and lifestyle to make your homeschooling efforts successful, keep in mind that at its core parenting and homeschooling are synonymous and all good parenting principles apply.