Recently, while doing an evaluation, a mom asked for some advice on dealing with her young daughter. The child, about 6 years old, was fighting a lot of lessons and the mom wanted advice on pushing past her daughters fight. Heres some of what I told her: 1. Young children shouldnt have to do lessons for 5 or 6 hours a day--often 15 minutes at a time is as much as young children can handle well. Schools have children for 5 or 6 hours a day, but the kids arent actually doing lessons all that time because schools are full of wasted time--time spent lining up, walking together in line, listening to announcements (which likely dont apply to the child anyway), waiting for everyone else to find their pencil (or paper, or book, or the page in the book, etc.), repeating directions for those who didnt catch them the first (or second or seventh) time, etc. 2. Pushing a child until the child is frustrated will backfire. Once the child is frustrated, learning shuts down and nothing more of value is accomplished. 3. Our job as homeschooling parents is to find balance--to push the child enough to challenge her, but not so much as to frustrate her. Of course, this is easier said than done and none of us will do it perfectly. So, when we goof up and frustrate the child, back off; dont even try to teach that subject at all for several days. Instead, give the child some recovery time and then deal with other topics for a few days. After the frustration fades away, then try approaching the subject again, gently, and in a short burst that stops before frustration is reached. 4. Children need down time to process what theyve learned. Letting a child go and play with LEGO bricks, dolls, or whatever doesnt mean they arent learning. During that down time, the child is likely thinking over what theyve been introduced to; mulling it over helps them really learn it. So include a lot of down time during the homeschool day. 5. Keep learning fun for young children. If you push too hard at a young age, learning will likely become a fight. Keeping it fun while theyre young means fewer battles in the years ahead. Thankfully, Florida home educated students dont have to have instruction for a specific number of hours a day. We can teach a kindergartner for 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon and be just fine under home education laws. (Though, realistically, the child is actually learning a lot more of that time, especially if the parent is taking them on field trips, doing crafts, letting them explore the backyard, playing board games together, etc. These might not seem typical school activities, but a lot of learning is involved.) So, keep it fun and dont overwhelm the child if you dont want a continual fight on your hands.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 20:45:00 +0000