Learn to Love to Learn!

There are a lot of things to pack into a day of learning and it can quickly overwhelm you.  Don't let it! ENJOY your time with your children.  I shared with you that we did a lot of hands-on projects when the kids were younger. At one point, I thought it would be less stressful to try a different "program". It was actually more stressful and by the end, all three of us were in tears everyday. There was so much paperwork that HAD to be done, it left no time at all for fun stuff.

My husband and I decided that OUR main goal would be to teach the kids to love to learn.  They were not going to love to learn if I made them read something they were not interested in reading.  Now, don't get me wrong. We had some non-negotiables.  Reading and math had to be done everyday and of course they had to read about certain historical events and people. Leisure reading was different though.   I let them choose what they wanted to read about.  As teenagers today, one of my boys loves reading the Percy Jackson series and the other loves to read about the different wars. As long as they are reading everyday, I'm happy.

With the library being our home away from home, I was used to talking to them on the phone often, either to extend our check outs or be told that something was overdue. So I was not surprised one day when they called.   I was surprised, however, for the reason they had called.   They told me the book that I had reserved was in and that I could pick it up anytime. I searched the warehouse of my brain trying to determine which book I had reserved and had to finally ask the woman on the phone.
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Eli reserved it," she replied. Okay. Eli was five! In order to reserve that book, he had to go find the Ninja Turtle section on the bookshelves, look to see that the particular one was not there, go down to the main desk, climb up the little set of steps so he could see over the counter and request the librarian to reserve it and call us when it was available. At five!

That's what I'm talking about! Teach them where to find the answers.  I certainly didn't have them all. Teach them how to use an index and table of contents so that they can search things out for themselves. Teach them how to use the library.

My youngest  has been the only one of our children who has voiced that he wants to go to college. He would ask me questions and I would try to look things up online but really didn't know what I was looking for or how to maneuver around the pages once I did find them. He has been researching colleges on his own since he was in the sixth grade . He has made budgets and charts comparing different colleges. He has learned how to find the information that interests him.  If we can teach them that, their options will be limitless!

Confession Time:  I have spent practically every waking hour with my boys since we have started schooling. Knowing that Eli wanted to go to Texas Christian University about gave me a heart attack. I tried to let him know that there were closer (and cheaper) Christian colleges. He wouldn't budge. I then advised that he needed to look at more than just the courses and such. As he was sitting down to the computer one day, I mentioned that he also needed to look up the weather and other information about the area. He took one look at the screen and said, "You've already been researching TCU, haven't you, Mom?"  I gave him the deer in the headlights look. How did he know?!  "Mom, the search bar says Crime Rates and Statistics for Fort Worth, Texas. I know you've been researching." Busted!  Í have to learn how to clear the search bar!  I backed off that topic for a while, but through his research, he discovered one bit of information that was very important to him. He said, "Mom, on the TCU website, it states that they do not necessarily follows the disciplines of Christ." That was all it took for him to start seriously searching for other colleges.

Teach your kids to love the world of information that is at their fingertips. Work that in to your studies.  Before we started each school year, I would sit down with the list of topics for history and science and I would let them put the list in the order in which they wanted to learn it. That gave them some ownership of their studies and kept them interested. Homeschooling allows you to really zone in on their interests and talents so that you, in turn, can nurture that aspect in your child's life. What a great opportunity!