Learning is merely a one-dimensional aspect in the homeschool world. Teacher teaches. Child learns. That’s it, call it a day. Right??
Wrong! There are many days in which I am the student and my daughter is the teacher. I glean words of wisdom from her as we meander the pathway of math problems to literature readings. It’s a fact, her words touch my heart, so join along as I share five of her sayings along with lessons learned.
Stop. A lizard. Let’s Watch.
I confess, in the past these were not my favorite words when she said them, be it lizard-bird-bug-leaf. I’m eager to move along. So what if a lizard just scurried into the woods? Besides, eeek! Life happens fast, we have a lot to cover with minimal time.
Nature walks with my agenda were always sidelined. Oh, some Indigo Bunting decides to perch above our head and sing while I’m focused upon tree bark. An icky lizard makes its appearance just as we are about to end a nature walk and start math. Sigh, the dreaded squirrel who wants to bury its walnut and let us watch. The agony! A lesson delayed. A plead of “let’s watch” always slowed my agenda making.
My agenda needed reevaluating. My daughter was right. We need to watch and enjoy. The Indigo Bunting is beautiful. The patterns on the lizard are fascinating. Squirrels are really serious about their walnuts. Nature walks are to be about relationships formed with nature, not my agenda to be checked off a list. Tossing my ideals into air, I watch as a Red-Winged Blackbird glides gracefully overhead. No stress nature walks happening here.
Lesson Learned:
Slow down and realize nature has a better agenda than I could ever imagine. Just watch and learn. Watch and learn.
I’m not giving up. I’ll get it.
I love to hear these words of determination from her. I’m learning to speak them myself. As a self described perfectionist, errors are not my friend. English majors who read my blog terrify me! They know every grammatical error I’m just learning about. As my daughter is embracing participles, gerunds and present-tense-first-person-singular I feel like I’m swimming upstream in a foreign language. My daughter doesn’t care the direction the water is flowing. She merely jumps in with flippers firmly attached and asks the nearby salmon to point the way.
She asks questions. We look up answers. She reinforces to me she is not giving up. We all need to hear the echo of determination in our hearts. The horizon is within her view and knowledge is within our grasp.
Lesson Learned:
Ask questions-seek answers, even if they seem like crazy, ridiculous, easy questions.
….and…don’t…give…up!
I love Math. I don’t like Math.
Ah, the math war. These two phrases can be spoken within ten minutes of each other. It’s a love-hate relationship at times. If math is being good and the pencil magically flows with correct answers, then it is greeted at our door with a batch of warm brownies. If the eraser is making itself known, then the locks on the doors are changed. It ebbs and flows like ocean waves. It’s only consistency is it’s consistency. As a result of this changing tide we are able to have discussions based upon how emotions control our current circumstances. Oh, how I need to be reminded of this point daily. It’s so easy to get caught up in this digitized emotionally laden world. My daughter’s math somersaults remind me to see the larger picture, to look ahead. It also reminds me to turn on the oven to bake more math brownies. How can math be fun and engaging if we don’t welcome it in with a warm, hungry heart?
Lesson Learned:
Don’t dismiss something as hard, difficult or impossible based upon a specific set of circumstances. Reflection coupled with a purposeful plan can solve many of the difficult equations in life. Brownies also help.
This is easy!
I love these words, but why does it seem to take so long to get to them at times? If you teach, you have been there. Endless minutes of struggle. It’s impossible. Nope. Can’t. Do. It.
It feels like the lesson should be tabled until tomorrow. It would be pointless to spend another second in this endured frustration. You know the knowledge is there and it’s about to burst forth. But, what do you do? Continue and hope for a miracle? Stop and start all over again tomorrow?
Hold everything! What is that you heard? Did someone really say: “This is easy!”
Stunned you turn to the sweet voice uttering the proclamation. A smile greets you as the “light bulb” moment occurred. A turning point. Pondering you want to know what flipped the switch? Was it the second explanation? The diagram? The crazy You-Tube song?
Nope, none of the above. It was the silence. In the silence of trying to solve the problem for your child, the problem was solved. Too many times I want to solve all the problems when they are not really mine to solve. My daughter makes me wonder how the world would be a better place if folks just sometimes merely listened. Sat silent. Allowing the other person to fully reflect upon things so that more meaningful conversations could occur.
Lesson Learned:
Silence allows thoughts to flow. Use it wisely. Time to think is vital as it allows your mind to make the connections it has been seeking all along.
Tomorrow is a new day.
Do-overs are important. A bad morning can lead to a worse afternoon and a horrid evening. Do-overs are vital to reset the stage and start anew. Rushed mornings need a do-over. Poor effort on copywork requires a do-over. Feeling irrational because the coffee is not flowing as rapidly as it should necessitates a do-over for me. It takes merely a few seconds for my daughter to shout “do-over” and the tone of the day has dramatically changed. My daughter’s ability to fully embrace this mind shift and proclaim “tomorrow is a new day” inspires me. As I see the need for do-overs fading away I realize their power. No mindset can change unless you acknowledge it occurs.
Homeschooling requires daily renewal. No two days are the same, nor should they be. No two homeschool families are the same, nor should they be. It’s by following my daughter’s example of seeking to be better tomorrow than today which inspires me.
Lesson Learned:
Tomorrow is indeed a new day!
Thanks for joining along as I share how I am learning from my daughter. Read more posts regarding how the tables are turned as the teacher becomes the student at What My Child Has Taught Me.
