Even though I had to go alone, I still ventured out early this morning to explore the Christian Home Educators of Kentucky Homeschool Conference. My main goal was to learn more about IEW since I'm thinking of becoming an accredited IEW teacher/tutor. I went ahead and bought the material used, but it won't get here until sometime next week. I listened to Cathy Flowers, an IEW instructor in the Louisville. I also heard two sessions by Andrew Pudewa, which were quite entertaining! If you haven't heard his speech regarding the difference between boys and girls, you really need to! It's amazing how different we are built from each other, all of which can affect how/what we learn.
I did hear a session entitled "Seven Secrets to Helping Your Kids Think for Themselves", hoping it would help me get past the kitchen sink, as my bio explains. Irrrrr! Wrong answer! I don't know why or how those seven items could be considered secrets, since they are common sense to me and things I try to do all the time!
- Instill character values, such as responsibility and kindness.
- Don't tell your child, "Because I said so." If your young child is asking questions, try your best to answer them, even if it is the fifteenth question in the last five minutes!
- Even in mistakes, we learn.
- Allow your child to narrate what he/she has learned back to you. This makes him/her an active participant in the learning process.
- Connect ideas throughout the subjects in your curriculum. In other words, if you are learning about Egyptians in history, the child can make Egyptian art, mummify a chicken for science, etc.
- Go outside and learn!
- Have your children keep journals regarding what they have learned, what they see, and what is interesting to them.
Of course, these are in my own words and what I am instilling in my daughters' classical education. Overall, the conference was worth the drive, even though I'm still not sure where I was! I needed to get fired up for homeschool again, since I'm already thinking of my hectic year to come!
Do you have any other ideas to get me beyond the kitchen sink (that encourage's my daugther to be more independent)?
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Kids are smart..we all know this. But they learn very well if taught well. Now I'm the last to give my 2 cents on teaching well since I'm a horrible teacher in my mind. But I think you have to get past the thinking that they are little people with little minds and only learn "little". My dad always gave me big people tasks. He was a awesome teacher so even if I did a terrible job I didn't know it (grin) But I learned alot fast from my dad doing that to me. I may not have had the smarts to ace my calculus test, but I was definitely moving beyond the kitchen sink fast. I try and do that with my kids also. I let them do things that are a few years beyond their currant years. I try and not be a worrying mess constantly freaking out over them. If that makes any sense. Now there are some who think I'm wrong and I let my oldest do to much for his age, but every kid is different. But it is all a way of teaching them to think for them self. Now I know alot of parents that let their kids do whatever they want and even I think it is crazy what they let them do. But as long as you are constantly taking to them and teaching them from the way they went way wrong its all teaching. My oldest is already showing skills of really thinking out a situation for himself and I really like that. He still is 8 and acts 8:) What do I know though..its just my 2 cents.
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ReplyDeleteThanks, Jo! Actually, that goes along with what Mr. Padewa said about not giving your children grade levels (although I still say Lovely's in 1st grade). Giving levels like that tells people and the child what you expect him or her to be doing at that age, but all children are different, and therefore they do things at different times (which I agree with). So, although I say Lovely's in 1st grade, I'm not defining what 1st grade should be for her according to what I think or what the world thinks; she's defining it for herself, and so far she likes it, thank the Lord!
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