Tuesday's Teachable Tidbit: Homeschool Hate-Words
What are homeschool hate-words you
may ask? Let me give you some examples:
“Well, instead of me telling you what
that means, I suggest that you look that up in the dictionary.”
“I'd like you to write a book report.”
“Good job writing that rough draft,
now it is time to edit your draft.”
Today, it was the first example in this
list that sparked a character-building discussion. I suppose a
charge and challenge to all teachers, whether they teach in a
classroom or at the kitchen table, is that of developing a love of
learning in our students. If there is anything I want my kids to
walk away with, from this season of homeschooling, it would be the love
of learning. Can I guarantee that? No, I wish I could. However,
while they are under my tutelage, I want to be sure that I am
creating an atmosphere where learning is desirous, interesting, even fun at times. However, learning takes work. I am learning that sometimes I need to take the hard stand and not feed them the answer when they are struggling but rather encouraging
my children to discover the answer, search deeply for the answer, or
fight through laziness to get the answer. I am praying that they will
each find something that truly sparks their love of learning and
moves them far away from merely putting an X in the box labeled “schoolwork."
