Sunday, January 26, 2014

Educating for Human Happiness

A list I revised from a blog post, What Should a 4 Year Old Know, at the blog A Magical Childhood. I was so inspired by this blog post that I decided that I needed to create a list for my Homeschool Planner binder to remind me that everyday my sons education contains these characteristics. It has helped me set my goals and build my curriculum.

Our family Homeschool mission statement was written before I read this post, but these points reinforce our mission:

In the Morgan Family Homeschool we will nurture the natural curiosity, spiritual capacities, and emotional intellect of our children through cultivating a lifelong love of learning in a loving home environment.

WHAT LITTLE CHILDREN SHOULD KNOW:

HE should know that he is loved wholly and unconditionally, all of the time.

HE should know that he is safe and he should know that he can trust his instincts about people and that he never has to do something that doesn't feel right, no matter who is asking.

HE should know how to laugh, act silly, be goofy and use his imagination.

HE should know his own interests and be encouraged to follow them. If he couldn’t care less about learning his numbers, his parents should realize he’ll learn them accidentally soon enough and let him immerse himself instead in rocket ships, drawing, dinosaurs or playing in the mud.

HE should know that the world is magical and that so is he.

He should know that he’s wonderful, brilliant, creative, compassionate and marvelous.

HE should know that it’s just as worthy to spend the day outside making daisy chains, mud pies and fairy houses as it is to practice phonics. Scratch that– way more worthy.

WHAT EVERY PARENT SHOULD KNOW:

Every child learns at his own pace: children learn to walk, talk, read and do algebra at his own pace and that it will have no bearing on how well he walks, talks, reads or does algebra.

Take the time every day to sit and read them wonderful books. The single biggest predictor of high academic achievement and high ACT scores is reading to children. Not flash cards, not workbooks, not fancy preschools, not blinking toys or computers.

One of the biggest advantages we can give our children is a simple, carefree childhood. That being the smartest or most accomplished kid has never had any bearing on being the happiest. We are so caught up in trying to give our children “advantages” that we’re giving them lives as multi-tasked and stressful as ours.

Our children deserve to be surrounded by books, nature, art supplies and the freedom to explore them. -- Building toys, art materials, musical instruments, dress up clothes, and books, books, books. They need to have the freedom to explore – to play with scoops of dried beans, to knead bread and make messes, to use paint and play dough and glitter, to have a spot in the yard where it’s absolutely fine to dig a mud pit.

Our children need more of us. They deserve to know that they’re a priority for us and that we truly love to be with them. Our children don’t need Nintendos, computers, after school activities, ballet lessons, play groups and soccer practice nearly as much as they need US. They need fathers who sit and listen to their days, mothers who join in and make crafts with them, parents who take the time to read them stories and act like idiots with them. They need us to take slow walks with them. They deserve to help us make supper even though it takes twice as long and makes it twice as much work.

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