Painting and Pressure free learning
House on Red Corner · 2010-08-20 · Daughter, homeschool
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I tried for a little while to be a high pressure instructor to my kids, that lasted about ten minutes before there was general mutiny. This is mostly because we have been trying to teach them to make their own decisions from an early age. I am sure there will be times when this will backfire on us but for the most part we are confident that this is an exceptional philosophy for living.
When I try to be more results oriented, the schooling turns into a dynamic where I am trying to maneuver, manipulate and even trick TheBubster into completing whichever exercise I have placed in front of her to complete. Eventually, we do get through it and no one seems like they enjoyed the experience nor am I confident that we learned anything at all. However, if we go to the museum and pick a hall to look at and talk about all the exhibits in the room, answering as many questions as we can, then everyone enjoys themselves AND there is some obvious learning involved.
Rather than sailing into the wind, I have tried a different tack this week; one involving a more play-like atmosphere and more agreement in advance about what we are going to do. For instance, yesterday while we were working on the ABCs & 123s portion of the agenda, TheBubster expressed a desire to do art time next. So, I pulled out the paints and some extra cardboard that is lying around here and set us up for painting. Both kids really got into the fun of smearing paint around and one point TheBubster started singing a little song that ended with the line “I want to be an Artist!” and then she said to me, “Daddy, I want to be an artist.”
Complete immersion is the most effective educational strategy.
Physical education or exercise to burn off the energy of the afternoon as well as some socialization with other kids took place in a playground where she showed off her balance.
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She also made fast friends with another little girl and her older sister, they had great fun sitting and chatting to each other about important things like birthdays and other stuff.