Jan 06 2009
Living is Learning! Just look around you!
As a home educator, you must give your child the opportunity to learn from you as well as others. Give them an environment full of books, things to build, experimenting with science, nature, etc. Let them learn their family history and true “living” history from a grandparent or great-grandparent. Visit homes for the elderly and let your children learn from them as well! They may not be family but your children can certainly learn what it was like to actually live during various war-times, depression or emigrating from other countries. It is always better to learn from real life experiences than a textbook! And honestly, the best teaching usually occurs when the teacher or facilitator is learning right along with her students, you can discover meaning and uncover knowledge in the process of teaching. Additionally, it should be a goal to guide children to learn on their own, be a facilitator, not a lecturer. Secure, self-directed children know when they need help, to ask. If they don’t know something they will usually admit it and then begin searching for the answer, with or without your assistance. To teach successfully, you must recognize the learner’s desire and then help them seize the opportunity to learn it. If I don’t know how to assist my children when they ask me for help, I feel that I am duty-bound, as their teacher, to try to help them discover how they can receive good assistance elsewhere.
