I can certainly say that one of the biggest “perks” of homeschooling is allowing the children to explore and experiment. My two oldest children are boys.
Boys that have a slight allergy to pencils… or so they’d have me believe.
They are smart, but what they seek to learn they wish to learn by doing. While my Francesca, the first girl, will sit with a notebook and write letters and stories all day… the boys practically have to be bribed to do it! Okay, maybe not that bad Yes, it is that bad some times.
Of the three major learning styles, visual, auditory, and kinesthetic/tactile, I have quite a mix of all three. In fact my children posses traits of all three in differing degrees.
I am a kinesthetic learner, which is why I can’t seem to listen to a lecture or sometimes even watch a TV program without either doodling, knitting, spinning, or a combination, my hands need to be working for my mind to willingly absorb info.
My boys are mostly kinesthetic learners as well. You would think that since they have a similar style as mine we’d get along just fine and our school days would be gentle and encouraging.
They often aren’t.
Sometimes I forget that I have 30-some odd years of maturing behind me and that while I can quietly work with my hands to keep my mind focused they are still developing that self control. I have to loosen up a bit and let them learn in whatever way they need to patiently direct their enthusiasm.
Often when I back away a little some great things happen. They experiment with their ideas and make them come to life in a way that they understand.
Imagine my surprise when Evan showed me a model he made using, wait for it… the wax from his Babybel cheese! Who does that? My kid!
He captured details in that tiny model that I didn’t even know existed. He learned by doing. Without a formal lesson he learned what scale was, and proportion. It was also an informal lesson in sculpture.
I could have been upset that he hadn’t completed a math worksheet, but what benefit would that have?
Teaching them is not always about completing the next page in our books. It’s about guiding their character.
We use a curriculum that is influenced by Charlotte Mason methods, Heart of Dakota, that has a lot of hands-on opportunities written right into our schedule and also challenging them in the styles that are not their dominant traits.
What are you doing to feed your child’s desire to learn in the ways they are inclined (Deuteronomy 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go…”)? How do you provide appropriate challenges for the traits that are less developed without leading to frustration?
This post is linked over at Educating Laytons for Tactile Tuesday!
HA! I love the disclaimer at the bottom! What creativity! So glad you homeschool 🙂
LOL! If there is one thing Homeschool Blogging has taught me it that everything can be an opportunity.
We are blessed to have the opportunity to school at home.
Thanks for linking up – this is GREAT!! My 9yr old just started shouting “Star Wars” – and informed me that’s a battle droid. He has the same book!
“Teaching them is not always about completing the next page in our books. It’s about guiding their character.”
you nailed it friend!!!
Thanks for the reminder to embrace these outside-of-tradition opportunities and use them to teach in a way that speaks to the hearts of our children. We’ve got a Lego R2-D2 in our boys room this week too, as a prototype for the “real” one the oldest one wants to build. They’re pretty crazy over Star Wars. Maybe a little too crazy.
Had to read this to Dan. Hilarious!!! Bet you can figure out which of my boys is a hands on learner
I thought you’d be able to relate. 😉 I love seeing our boys play and learn together.
This is great! I love your son’s creativity, and the detail! This post sums up the reasons we decided to homeschool. With our children having special needs, they really DO need to experience in order to learn. Check out this fun activity we did: http://www.diverginglives.com/2011/08/fun-with-flubber.html
“Teaching them is not always about completing the next page in our books. It’s about guiding their character.” <—— Great reminder!!!
Thanks Nicole. I seem to need reminding often that we are raising men and that will usually mean noise, crazy experiments, and dirt. When I embrace the reality that they are learning a great deal by the work of their hands it seems to go much easier for us.
I love your flubber post! We made some on our first day of school last fall with a different recipe but the same great, fun results. I love that we get to bring learning to life for our children in these fun ways.
Love the creatvity! He is quite talented!
I found your blog through the Ultimate Homeschool Blogroll.
My son is a big Star Wars fan as well and though he has not crafted one of his own, he regularly has their help with his school work. We often have light sabor duels at the table during a math lesson.
We use Heart of Dakota as well. We just found it a short time ago so we are not very far into it, but we love it.
Have a great week!
Thank you Amber. Ours are BIG Star Wars fans (I’ll admit I enjoy the story too). We have a Lego R2 in our home now. He’ll be gracing these pages soon I’m sure.
I’m glad to “meet” another HoD user. We began using their guides last fall. We didn’t get through it this year but we are looking forward to getting back after a short break and really making use of it. I really appreciate the scope and sequence and even with our crazy school year I saw good retention of what we did cover.
Looking forward to visiting your blog and reading how you all implement HoD.
Your kids rock … just like mom & dad! That is so awesome! Love it.
Thanks Laurie. He’s pretty inventive. He wants me to Tweet it to George Lucas! LOL!!
How fun! I do find myself having a hard time determining the line between hands-on learning and them becoming completely distracted by the fun and dropping the learning part all together. But our boys are still young so I don’t think they’ll be completely ruined if I get it wrong sometimes. 🙂
I think it is like anything else, determining which battles we ought to fight hardest. A little distraction is healthy if it can be brought right around into the context of learning. We just have to watch for the opportunities.