Mom Is Teaching

I found myself reading several blog posts this weekend that talked about heling children love to learn. Creating life long learners is one of the goals I have with homeschooling, and I suspect it is a goal of many (if not most) homeschooling families out there. We want our children not to feel that when the bell rings their brains can shut down, but instead to look at every moment as an opportunity to learn something new. And to love it!

It ties in with one of the common questions homeschoolers are asked. “How can you teach your children something you don’t know?” This question is usually tossed out with a sneer, meant to point out how a lowly mother could never do the job of a trained professional. The problem is at one point in time the professionals didn’t know how to do it either. In fact there are so many things that none of us know how to do. You can either throw up your hands and say “I don’t know, I quit” or you can throw up your hands and say “I don’t know, but I’m willing to learn”. I choose the latter.

And I hope, no I know that my children will do the same. Because they’ve had a good example in their lives. When pregnant with my second son I knew very little about pregnancy and birth, but instead of walking away and elaving it to the professionals I dived into a massive pile of books, articles, and websites. Now I know more aobut the why and how of childbirth than most people. I’ve even pointed out a few errors that the professionals have stated about a certain hormone or drug. When it comes time for chemisty or trigonometry I can easily do the same, teaching my children not only about the subject but about continuing learning new things long after the school bell rings.

There are so many things in thie world that we don’t know. I hope that none of us are backing away from them simply because we are not already experts. When you come across a new concept that you don’t know or don’t understand jump into it. Devour it, absorb it, learn all that you can about it. And if you can do that along with your child, there’s no better lesson to be taught.

homeschool, education, learning