Hey y'all,
Today, I was sitting at my doctors office and as they asked me a copious amount of questions about past medical history, doctors, etc. I answered one of the questions with treatment from a Chiropractor.
Having worked as a Chiropractors assistant for several years I know, just as well as anyone that many medical doctors seem to see Chiropractic as a homeopathic approach, some even frown upon it, now I'm not saying every doctor sees it that way. But it got me thinking.
So often we as moms especially, try to make healthy choices. We make it a priority to feed our kids fruits, vegetables, perhaps we try our hand at juicing or eating organically. Because we want our families bodies healthy, we want to treat our bodies with the respect they need to push through. Right?
Well what if we looked at our child's education as "organic". What if our teaching approach thought about the whole child? Not just limiting our scope to certain topics, ideals and subjects. But truly feeding their bodies the organic apples of education.....
If we truly think about the whole child, we can recognize them as individulas, we can explore a childs natural curiosities and soar with it. My youngest daughter is naturally curious about Space, science, volcanos and animals. So this year we focused on Astronomy with our Apologia curriculum. We went to the zoo and did a book report on volcanoes. While this wasnt all we did for science it defintley hit home for her, I could see her eyes light up as she studied about Olympus Mons and Echidnas.
My older daughter thinks she wants to be an Anesthesiologist (I have no clue where she came up with this profession, but how awesome is that?), So we focused on anatomy for part of her science curriculum. She also loves History, which is convinient seeing she is growing up in the "Historic triangle" We have Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown, George Washingtons house, etc. all which we have visited this year.
You see, if children are interested in what they are learning, we are feeding their natural curiosities. We are showing them that its okay to have specific interests, its okay to dream big. That just because their a child doesnt mean they dont have a sayin their education.
Perhaps your child flourishes in sports or the Arts, be it baseball, soccer, trumpet or piano. Regardless of where you child thrives, tooning in on their interests builds character and self esteem. Creativity is sparked and talents are fostered.
I try as a mom to feed my kids the right foods, to make sure they are in activities that give them the building blocks for team work, excersize, and to build confidence. Why cant we do the same with what we teach.
Dont get me wrong, I think its vital to teach Math, science, History, Language arts, even a foreign language. But while doing so I find that my children work harder when I also give them what they desire in their education as well.
We built an erupting volcano this year, we wrote stories as though they were on the great wagon trains of the west, We looked at insects under a microscope and ran through the the tall grass at Surrender field.
There is so much more to teaching than what lies in a textbook alone. So remember if you are willing to browse the whole foods section looking for the organic pasta and farm raised eggs. Then maybe its something to consider to dive in deeper for your childs education.
I am a former Teacher. I have taught preschool, Kindergarten and 2nd grade. I have had class rooms full of 20+ students. All learning the same thing, teaching my class as a whole versus having the ability to customize my teachings to the whole child, the individual! Looking back I know that that would have been impossible, there is just no way that one person can teach 20 different children to their specific interests and desires.
But with homeschooling we have that flexability. We can teach Physical science and still make room for an astronomy lesson. We can teach Algebra and still make sure that our child knows how to count change or balance a checkbook.
The Websters dictionary uses an example of Organic as this, Adj: He thinks of the city not as a collection of neighbors but as an organic whole.
"But as an organic whole" read that part again. When we treat our children as individuals you begin to unfold this person full of imagination, curiosity and ideas. You begin to see them in a whole new light. I challenge you to be more "organic" in your teaching.
