Friday, November 03, 2006
this is unschooling
from a list
Learning To Write
Learning To Write
When we don't try to teach kids "on schedule," they will learn at
widely varying times. One of my kids learned to read fluently at 3
years old and another at 8 years old. A 17 yo unschooler I know well
didn't learn to read until he was 12 or 13. It is to be expected. My
suggestion to you is to stop comparing your kid to other kids - look
ONLY at your own kid and notice what he IS doing, not what he isn't
doing. You never help a kid by focusing on what he doesn't know - you
help them by supporting what they ARE doing, what they enjoy, what
they are passionately pursuing. This is where trust is required for
unschooling parents - you have to be totally okay with kids learning
on their own timetable. You have to be so sure that the WILL learn
what they need to learn that you simply stop worrying about it - you
live each hour of each day enjoying what your kids are doing, not
feeling concerned about what they aren't doing.
Writing is about having something to say. The BEST road to writing is
lots and lots of great experiences, lots of discussion, lots of
pretend play, lots of stories and tv and movies and games and,
eventually, a reason to want to write something down. Every time he
tells you about a game he is playing or about the lego creation and
just made, or about what he did at his friend's house, or anything
else, THAT is him practicing "writing." Later, he'll learn to get it
on paper if there is reason for it, but that is just a technicality.
If you are worrying about the mechanics of writing letters - please
don't. ANY activity that involves him using his arms, hands, and
fingers, is helping him develop the muscles he'll eventually use in
writing. He doesn't need to actually BE writing to develop those
small muscles.
There is GREAT danger in too-early academics. I've seen it - I've
watched schools and homeschool parents doing academics with young
children and watched the children develop supposed learning
disabilities. I am firmly convinced that those disabilities would
never have arisen if the children were allowed to play and learn at
their own speed. Don't feel pangs of worry that your child is behind
other young children who appear to be doing academics - feel SORRY
for those families because they are very likely to be facing a number
of possible problems that result FROM pushing the early academics.
Even if they manage to not create learning disabilities, there lots
of other negative consequences possible. Please read "Miseducation:
Preschoolers at Risk" by David Elkind. His ideas and evidence is
applied to kids 5 and under - but I truly believe that his arguments
are equally true for older kids, too.
# posted by Anne @ 6:19 AM 
