As parents, most of us think of ourselves also as teachers and we are concerned with what sort of lessons our children are learning. I think it is good to remind ourselves that learning is more than just being able to recite the alphabet or writing symbols on paper and turning in our homework. Real learning involves everything—it is what we think, what we know, what we do and what we say…
While we may understand that learning is a process, it is important to remember that it is often not a linear process. I know in watching my own children, their learning has been more like a spiral or a layering of information and experience. It is not just about reading a book and answering questions. For true learning to take place, it needs to be incorporated into different facets of their lives. They need to form opinions and mull on things and sometimes, reject certain things for learning to occur. We may know that there are different kinds of “learners” now, but I think that most kids need all sorts of different experiences in order to learn and as parents we can stay patient and committed to supporting the learning process—and not trying to rush a child to simply be able to spit back out information.
I tell my children that it is good to study and learn about things whether we agree with them or not or whether we like them or not. In fact, it is only by truly knowing about something that you can decide if it is something you agree with and subscribe to or not. There are so many different ideas and opinions and research and knowledge out there that the only way we can truly incorporate it is to experience it in many different facets and ways.
See Also the EDUCATION Blog