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Welcome to the 2018 Edition of the 5 Days of Homeschool Blog Hop! This is a favorite event for longtime Homeschool Review Crew members, and it's always exciting to have new Crew members join in the fun as well. We've all been looking forward to sharing ideas, encouragement and advice related to homeschooling, and we hope you enjoy visiting all the participating bloggers. For this round of the Blog Hop, I chose to talk about some of the many lessons that I have learned as I've played the role of homeschool teacher over the years.
How to Learn
As homeschoolers, we often say that one of the most important things we teach our kids is how to learn. Not just temporarily stuff some facts into their heads so they can pass an exam. We want our kids to develop strategies for finding answers that may not be in the textbook, and to be able to acquire and apply knowledge and skills in the real world. We want them to be lifelong learners, so that's something we need to model. A concern that's often raised by homeschool moms is how they will teach algebra - or chemistry, or whatever subject is their nemesis - to their child when they never really understood it themselves, or don't remember anything about it. Here's some good news, moms: I've found that I can learn and relearn just about anything I need to, and homeschooling gives me the opportunity to keep discovering more about the world. And I hope that demonstrating an enthusiasm for learning and a willingness to keep learning even though I'm "old" will be just a little bit contagious.
He who dares to teach must never cease to learn. ~Richard Henry Dann
Some variation of this quote is heard often, because there's quite a bit of truth to it. One way to prove that you've learned something well is to teach it to someone else. This works for us in the subjects we like or have a natural affinity for. I liked and enjoyed subjects like History, English, and Music, so these are the subjects I most enjoy teaching and generally feel confident about. But I didn't care much for Math or Science when I was in school. In fact, I remembered feeling mostly out of my depth in Algebra and Chemistry in high school, and just hoping I understood enough to pass the final. I took Physics in high school and enjoyed studying mechanics and optics, but when we got into atomic physics, I was more confused than anything, and again, just hoped for the best on that final. (I passed all three finals easily, by the way, but that didn't mean I understood much of it. I was just able to use the formulas.) So how could I possibly teach those subjects?
I learn as I go, and learn with my kids. When they were younger, I read the textbooks and the resources and did the work with them as I taught them. And it's amazing how much comes back! And the things that I simply don't remember, I just learned over again. Or maybe learned them for the first time. Especially during the high school years, there have been times when they caught on before I did, so I let them explain to me. Times when we figured it out together. And times when I thought it better to just let them study it on their own or learn from somebody else.
In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn. ~Phil Collins
Teach and learn creatively. I learned to think up interesting ways to help my kids remember their math facts. I learned that memorizing poetry helps a student broaden their vocabulary and use language more elegantly. I learned that there's more than one textbook to get the job done, and more ways to cover a subject than strictly reading that textbook. I learned how to customize education. One huge advantage of homeschooling is the ability to choose our own focus and tailor studies for each student's individual needs, interests, and goals. I try to help them figure out what they need to learn in order to accomplish their goals, and then work with them to decide how to acquire the knowledge they need. We've all learned - and are still learning - to apply creative outside-the-box thinking and problem-solving skills to education and career preparation.
I've changed my attitude about learning. There will always be something new to learn. I'll never be able to learn absolutely everything I want to know about every subject I'm interested in. Remember I said earlier that I didn't like math when I was a kid? Well, I still don't get warm fuzzies from working equations or checking algebra homework, but I've learned to appreciate the broader skills that are learned by solving for x. I've learned that the absolutes of math are indicators that we live in a universe where there are reliable and predictable laws - in other words, math is an evidence that there is a God. I wasn't a big fan of learning sciences, but when I started seeing chemistry and biology as a glimpse into the creativity of God, it changed my perspective. I will still bolt from the room rather than look at a dissection, but I will also be amazed at the incredible detail and intricacy of the body systems created by God. In some small way, by learning what we can about the world he created, we are ". . . thinking God's thoughts after him." (Johannes Kepler)
To teach is to learn twice over. ~Joseph Joubert
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