On one of my other posts in homeschooling this week, someone asked me how they can get their kids to do their own work. “The kids want me to tell them the answers to everything.” The problem here is that the kids do not feel the need to find out or know the answer to the question. So how exactly do you create kids that just have to find out the answer?
Learning What They Want to Learn
I’ve said numerous times before in other blogs that school is not the most efficient way to organize student learning. For those of you who are pulling kids out of school, I would suggest that you start by deschooling and do a few lapbooks, or something similar based entirely on your child’s interests. When I’m talking to people about this subject, I often think of my own son who as a 6 year old has recently become extremely knowledgeable about scorpions. Why would a six year old bother to learn information about scorpions? Because he really wants to know. Allowing the children to learn about what they really want to know about will yield kids who are excited about schooling.
Teaching the Way They Want to Learn It
I have to admit, my husband is much better at this than I am. He seems to find wonder and learning in even the most mundane things and therefore, the kids do too. But so often we buy our workbook curriculums and our fill in the blank booklets and then we wonder why the kids aren’t excited about digesting the information. Ask yourself this: Would you be excited to learn it the way you’re teaching it? If the answer is no, you need to reexamine your approach. That doesn’t mean you should throw out the workbooks or whatever else you’re doing, but just find a better way to use them.
Teaching and Learning When They Want to Learn
I have a good friend who spent the better part of several years homeschooling her kids until 5pm every day. The reason was as she put it, ‘her kids were being lazy and wouldn’t do their work.’ Once I started homeschooling (her children are a little older than mine) and we were done every day by about 2pm she asked me how I did it. Surely I must skimp on the academics right?
On the contrary, I’ve just learned that my kids need breaks and that their brains go dead after 2pm. So that’s the time of day I do baking, chores, art projects or other things that really require less ‘book work’ type thinking. If it feels like you’re fighting an uphill battle with your kids trying to get them to do their work, you might want to consider rearranging their schedule.
I realize that I’m making it sound as if my children run my house but if you knew us, the contrary is true. However, my goal in home schooling is for my children to love learning–and they really do. They are excited that they are home schooled and feel badly for children who go to school. Actively seeking ways to give your kids opportunities to learn in a way that excites them is well worth the effort. (And yes, it might mean that you put those workbooks on a bookshelf for another year–and that’s okay.)