October 20, 2011
I have thrown the home-school schedule out the window. You know, the schedule that says how many learning days we need to complete or how many hours we need to "learn" to meet "standards". Actually....I have thrown "school" out entirely and made the decision that we will just learn instead. Who's bright idea was it to tell kids that they were to do their learning M-F 8-2:30 and of course, during homework time and then they could have free time with no learning. Essentially that is what my kids took from their "time served" at school. They came to believe that learning was something forced upon you, and to avoid outside of school hours as much as they could. They rebelled against constant pressure to perform and "learn" upon command. No wonder kids get burnt out so young. Where is the time to discover who they are in Christ and discover the talent God put into them? Proverbs 22:6 says to train up a child in the way he should go. That includes helping them discover their "bent" and their purpose. When can they spend time discovering what they are passionate about and what they themselves are truly interested in learning more about. Kids are naturally curious and ask questions to get answers until they are stuck in a system designed by government and taught that their curiosity or individuality doesn't have a place until they have finished "learning" what has been chosen as important by others. By the time their energy and brain power has been used up, or more sadly, squelched, and are free to do something on their own, they are wiped out and just want to turn their brains off. Again, this is my personal experience. Many times, our girls would say to me, "Mom, we're not in school now; I don't want to learn anything." when I was talking with them at home about something that came up and was wanting to use as a teaching moment. Or they would ask, "Is this going to be learning, cause I don't want to do learning now?" They had equated and made synonymous the words "school" and "learning" and they didn't want any more than that which was forced upon them. Sad. That's why we have decided to give up "school". Yep, my kids are "school" dropouts. I have decided that learning about and in the world around us, and discovering who we are is a better use of our time.
“Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school. It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. ” – Albert Einstein
. “Just as eating contrary to the inclination is injurious to the health, so study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.” – Leonardo da Vinci
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.” – Albert Einstein
“Learning is not the product of teaching. Learning is the product of the activity of learners.” – John Holt
“The anxiety children feel at constantly being tested, their fear of failure, punishment, and disgrace, severely reduces their ability both to perceive and to remember, and drives them away from the material being studied into strategies for fooling teachers into thinking they know what they really don’t know.” – John Holt
:-)
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