1. Children are Wired to Learn
All of the mothers in all of human history could tell you (and modern neuroscience would confirm) that children are created to learn.
From the minute they arrive, infants are taking in faces, sounds, tone, language expression. They learn to eat, sit, crawl, stand, walk, speak, build, sort, categorize, dress, .... you get the idea.
Yet they turn 5 and our modern school mindset says, "Okay time for me to show you how to learn." But their innate curiosity does not end when reading, writing & math lessons begin. As a society, we have schooled the joy out of learning for so many kids for so long that we think it's normal for kids to hate school.
My charge to you as a homeschooling parent would be to remember that your children are naturally wired to learn. Watch closely as your toddler starts stacking blocks with all of their concentration. Observe your eager preschooler pretend-reading books to their dolls, making pretend food with all of the same expressions you use in the kitchen. Listen to your child as they ask questions and use their questions as your cues to teach the next thing... if they're curious about money, teach money. If they're curious about bugs, get an ant farm.
We still use curriculum as a guide, but making time & space for the natural learning process has taken a higher priority in our home over the years.
Figure out how to teach to their individual bents and giftedness. And for goodness sakes, don't beat yourself up about not educating them enough if you spend an afternoon setting up an ant farm instead of doing phonics lessons. The phonics lesson will be there tomorrow.
2. Created to Create
In the beginning, God (Hebrew: Elohim, meaning the transcendent all powerful creator) created the heavens and the earth... and said, "Let us make man in our image." (Genesis 1:1, 26)
In modern English, we often use "creative" to mean artsy. But, we're all created in God's image; and he is Elohim - the all powerful, transcendent creator of our infinite, orderly, beautiful, majestic universe.
If you give children space, time, and simple materials, they will create. Some will draw, others will build. Some will imagine while others run & experiment physically. But our nature as human beings is to create, not to consume. It's why we feel more awake & alive when creating rather than consuming.
Make space in your homeschool for boredom & see what happens.
3. Input Matters
Philippians 4:8 says, "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."
Romans 12:2 says, "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
We become what we behold. The books, media, and conversations around your home matter. To this end, I highly recommend memorizing scripture & poetry, and reading good books aloud at least 3 days a week.
4. By the Wayside
This is the principle that has most profoundly affected my understanding of not only home educating, but also parenting in general.
Teaching & learning is primarily relational. Scripture tells parents in Deuteronomy 6 to teach their kids the things of God throughout the day... "When you rise & go to bed, as you go about your day... when you walk by the wayside."
Jesus modeled this with his disciples too. He taught them as they walked, traveled, ate, and just lived life together.
We can't underestimate what our kids are learning as we live life together. The constant underlying fear I hear all the time is "How do I know if I'm doing enough?"
Regardless of the school choice you're making right now, enough is not measured in hours spent in a curriculum. Enough isn't measured in checking off lists.
Jesus is enough. We walk with Him daily and bring our children along with us.
Engage your children by the wayside and trust the Lord to fill in the gaps.
What I've been realizing as my kids get older is that this by the wayside approach to learning doesn't only "work" for spiritual principles... it's actually a great approach to learning many academic & life skills.
Since kids are wired to learn & naturally curious, they start asking all kinds of questions. Those are the moments where by the wayside comes into play.
Here are a few everyday examples:
Cooking & household chores could teach: hand-eye coordination, fine motor muscle development, basic life skills, conversational skills, patience serving others, most preschool-2nd grade math concepts such as counting, sorting, organizing, adding, subtracting, time, introductory fractions, calendar.
Opening a bank account & paying for some chores could teach: more math, personal finance, basic budgeting, investing, compound interest, hard work, the actual cost of things, that money is finite, Biblical stewardship.
If you start paying attention you'll see your kids learning deeply & widely all the time in their day to day lives. This matters.
Don't discount this method! Yes, we do copywork & memory work & assigned reading. But the longer I homeschool, the more I realize that the most important lessons are learned in life lived together.
xo & happy homeschooling this week,
~Renee
