| After nearly two years of
reading, browsing through catalogs, cruising the web, and talking to
many homeschoolers in search of the "right" curriculum, I have
come to the conclusion that educating myself about teaching, the
learning process, etc. is a higher priority than purchasing a curriculum
package.
Why? Because only when you know how and
what to teach and get a wide variety of input about what has worked best
for others can you know which curriculum package, if any, you should
decide upon. My degree in education has only given me a good foundation
in this process. It has not eliminated the need for the process.
Learning at home is much different, but
in my opinion, more effective, than learning in a traditional school
setting. And so it takes time learning from others how to do it well,
just as any other job requires training and continuously learning how to
improve.
And in working at educating myself first,
and my children next, I have discovered my second priority: transforming
our home into a relaxed learning environment. Keeping the television off
is the first step. You can read about how we rid our home of television
in my article "Television: Do You Really Need It?"
Choosing to spend time and money to
create a learning environment in the home should be a priority for
homeschoolers as well as those who choose to educate their children in a
traditional school. Most American children spend more time watching
television than in school. If their home was a place where independent
learning and curiosity was encouraged and television was not an option,
we would all benefit as a society. I know what you’re thinking and all
I can say is “I have a dream.”
All it takes is thinking hard about the
choices we make.
For example, instead of spending $25 on
the latest video, why not buy art supplies or an age-appropriate board
game? Or, instead of spending $30 a month for cable or an expanded cable
or satellite option, use that money to buy reference books, maps, legos,
or biographies of people worth reading about. Christmas and birthday
gifts can be deliberately chosen to fit into your learning environment.
The primary objective in creating this
dynamic home learning environment is to make learning fun, natural, and
to foster a healthy curiosity that should result in an independent
learner.
The following is a collection of ideas I
have gathered.
TOYS
The latest research about how the best learning occurs reveals that
active and repetitive involvement, as opposed to passive watching or
even reading, is when the most powerful learning takes place.
Purchase a few toys wisely. I avoid
anything that merely entertains my children. Legos, building blocks of
any kind, dress-up clothes and props acquired from yard sales or after-halloween
sales, board games, large and small fabric remnants, a sand box, even a
miniature indoor sand box made with cornmeal in a large plastic
container are toys that encourage imaginative play.
BOXES
Give them a cardboard box and let them find ways to play with it. Save
shoeboxes and bring the collection out occasionally to make a train for
toys. Teach classifying and sorting by using boxes and other containers
to organize toys when picking up for the day.
Box up toys that are not picked up at
night and rotate toys every week or so. They will seem like new ones to
your child.
Give children small boxes, paper, glue,
scissors, stickers, markers or crayons and let them cover boxes and
decorate them.
PUZZLES
Puzzles can be expensive. But they can also be purchased for pennies at
yard sales and made from recyclable household items. Glue magazine
pictures to posterboard or recycled cereal boxes.
For toddler puzzles, use the pictures in
coloring books or picture books as examples to draw simple pictures to
make your own puzzles. Use the puzzles to practice counting, understand
spatial relationships, observation and problem solving skills.
GAMES
Introduce card games like "Go Fish" to teach colors, numbers,
letters, and counting. Try Chess and Checkers to teach strategy and
logic. Monopoly Jr. introduces a child to the world of investments and
real estate.
Encourage children to make their own
games with items on hand. Make your own flash cards using magazine
pictures and play “Find It.” Hide several letter cards in a room and
ask your child to find one letter.
ART JOURNAL
Buy a sketch book and write the day and date at the top of a page. Let
your child create a picture of anything he chooses. Use questions
occasionally to help him think of a project. This helps preschoolers
understand the concept of time and the calendar and also teaches how to
complete one picture on a page, instead of scrawling a line on each
page.
COMPUTER/TV/VIDEOS
Limited video time can be used to teach character by choosing programs
where the characters exemplify good behavior and the story line shows
good winning over evil in the end(as it ultimately will in the real
world). Look for educational videos to enhance unit studies or current
fascinations. Educational computer games can provide motivation to learn
phonics, math languages, and more while teaching basic computer skills
at the same time.
ARTS AND CRAFTS
Teach your child to create something with his hands every day. I try to
write every day and encourage my children to create a drawing or other
project. In a few years, we will work on journals, correspendence and
nature journals.
BOOKS
It goes without saying that reading aloud during the early years
especially is critical and, for us, has been part of our daily routine.
Children’s books can be purchased for ten cents each at yard sales.
Stock up when you can. Also check out library sales and homeschool book
fairs.
YOUR BACKYARD
Get out into the yard and take time to look at things and explore. Get
binoculars, a magnifying glass. Make insect collection jars. Use leaves,
dried weeds, etc. to create art projects.
WALLS
Yes, walls. Why not put up a beautiful map of the world in a family
gathering place such as the family room or dining room? National
Geographic has a beautiful one for $89.99. We are considering this for a
family Christmas gift. Mount tables and charts appropriate for your
child’s age but also introduce him the periodic table of elements and
a chart of the planets or stars.
Paint a wall with chalkboard paint. Set
up a dry-erase board on an easel. Make a felt board. See Lights,
Camera Action! Felt Productions Dazzle Preschoolers for
more ideas about using felt boards.
Assign a wall space in the house to
display your children’s art projects.
LEARNING CENTERS
In my grand master plan for our homeschool environment I envision small
reading areas assigned to related subjects. One could be for science,
one for math, one for foreign languages, etc.
A small bookcase, reading chair, and
cassette player with headphones could be a language arts listening and
reading center.
Consider setting up a workshop if you
don’t have one. Pick up tools and small appliances, as well as
obsolete computers at yard sales. Let your children take them apart and
learn how to put them back together.
CASSETTE TAPES
Listening to quality music tapes or language tapes during play time can
be a non-threatening way to introduce classical and other quality music,
as well as foreign languages.
Make original tapes with your own voice
to teach Bible memory, poems, songs (if you dare), stories, child’s
address and phone number, the multiplication table, etc. Especially at
bedtime, a tape with mom’s voice reading a story can be a relaxing way
for younger children to fall asleep happily in their own rooms.
CHORES
Sorting laundry, setting the table, working in the kitchen and other
household tasks can be opportunities to learn about colors, shapes,
counting, measuring, sorting. Just being open to using these times will
unleash a new attitude toward those tasks for everyone involved.
Over time you can have puppets and a
puppet theatre, a mounted dry-erase board, and easel, felt boards, maps,
charts and reference books throughout the home.
Make books together related to what you
are studying or your child's current interests. A simple alphabet book
is a good start. Cut out pictures and letters together and glue them
into a spiral notebook, using a page or two-page spread for each letter
of the alphabet.
If your children still get bored, go to Family.com’s
ActivitySearch . They have
recently incorporated the entire book, 365 TV-Free Activities by
Steve and Ruth Bennett into their database.
I have a long-term vision for my home. I
want it to be a place where my children have fun, where they are busy
learning and doing, and one that provides an inviting atmosphere for
their friends.
Beyond the home your family can learn on
the go. Talk about everything. Encourage questions and intellectual
curiosity about the world. You can count to 100 or practice singing the
vowel sounds while driving in the car, play “I Spy” while waiting in
line.
Now, I will admit that this can get out
control. My son gets upset when I try to teach sign language while
driving the car. We now have rule prohibiting the teaching of sign
language by any person operating a motor vehicle. ;-)
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