September 27, 2003

Keeping the Love of Learning Alive

I was talking with a friend today, a fellow home school mom, about how to keep the love of learning alive in our children.

God created each one of us with a love of learning--a sense of awe and wonder, and a natural curiosity. But somewhere along the line, between phonics worksheets and math drills and two-page book reports, doubled-spaced, with careful attention to spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and composition--our children are not only losing the love of learning, they're learning to loathe it. The sense of awe and wonder is replaced by complaining and whining. The natural curiosity is suffocated under piles of assignments. There are certain non-negotiables--skills that have to be learned--even in home schooling. So how do we teach them the things they need to know without driving the love of learning from them?

I'm certain I don't have all the answers, but every once in a while I get a glimpse of something that might help in this area....

For instance, there's delight directed learning. One conference speaker told of how she taught her son, an avid baseball fan, the basics of math using of all things, a baseball game. Her advice was to find what your children love, then use that topic to teach them certain skills.

Another helpful hint comes in the form of giving them choices. Take book reports for example. The rationale behind having a student write a book report is to be verify he or she can clearly communicate the main ideas of a story through the written word. Suppose that instead of writing a book report for every book read, the child is occasionally given the options of giving an oral book report (note: public speaking is also a valid skill to learn), creating a diorama, making a poster, designing a scrapbook-type page, acting out the story, or reporting the story as a journalist would--complete with microphone or newspaper layout. As long as they are demonstrating their written skills on occasion, where is the harm in allowing them to use their interests--art, journalism, acting, etc.--to inject some fun into school?

I have dabbled with the Charlotte Mason method of home schooling for a couple of years now, and though I've never completely grasped the whole of her philosophy, I keep coming back to it. In so many ways it just makes sense.

Sally Clarkson of Wholeheart Ministries is one of my favorite home school mentors. In one conference she led, she stated that home schooling is about three things: