Organically Inclined

“It is almost a miracle that modern teaching methods have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiousity of inquiry; for what this delicate little plant needs more than anything, besides stimulation, is freedom.” – Albert Einstein

I just love this quote. I have an interesting opportunity to compare my oldest, who is now 16, and my fifth child, Jack, who is almost 4. I was so concerned as a first time parent that my child be able to do everything. I made sure that he knew his letters by the age of 3 – he was reading by four, knew his numbers, could write his name, etc., etc. I admit it, particularly in his younger years, I pushed and pushed. Mostly because he just seemed so smart that I felt if I didn’t I was neglecting my duty as his mother.

Jack is very much like Matt was – he is curious and smart and interested in everything (not that my other kids aren’t, mind you) and being a little older now and a little more confident in my abilities to raise children, I decided not to force things on Jack the way I did on Matt. I still buy “work” book and activity books and coloring books – but I don’t make Jack sit down with them. I also put the letters up on our wall and put words on different items in the house, but I don’t make Jack sit down and practice. Do you know what happened? Jack is just as interested in words and letters and numbers as Matt every was. AND he is discovering them more organically. He brings his workbooks to me and asks me to do them with him – rather than the other way around. When he’s obviously getting bored or tired of it, we stop and do something else.

I always believed that if I just provided the resources and was a source of help and guidance myself that my children would learn. But I didn’t start to see that in action until Matthew was much older, when he started studying subjects on his own and now is applying to colleges.

Seeing Jack explore the world and learn things just by being provided the opportunity to do them is quite an amazing experience. I’m not a very disciplined person. We have our routines certainly, but I don’t enjoy standing at the head of the dining room table and “teaching.” I know there are lots of homeschoolers who do it this way – and call me lazy – but I just don’t enjoy recreating a school-type atmosphere. Rather, my rule is that each child has to do their level-appropriate math and then we kind of just let the day find itself. It’s important to keep up with math because if you stop and start it you often miss steps that you’ll need later, and if my kids want to go to college or take their SATs, then they need to keep up with math!

I always ask each child to think of a topic at the beginning of each week that they would like to be an “expert” in – spiders, Mars, dinosaurs – it doesn’t matter. And then I help them find books, websites, magazine articles and sometimes field trips that will help become experts in their field. Sometimes I ask them to write me a report, or just log the information in their science logs or maybe just make a poster or some other things that is representative of what they have found out (not what they have learned!).

I am always reading and writing. It’s my job, certainly, but it’s my job because it’s what I like to do. Hopefully, seeing me read and write all of the time impacts my children. I think it does. Jack is always toting a book around – whether or not it’s a little too much for him to read just yet. And while Liam isn’t much of a fiction reader, he is always logging things in his notebooks and making signs for the house and researching things on the Internet and at the library. Alex, Matt and Lydia are all big readers, finishing all types of books all of the time. And Alex is a great artist – choosing to journal things by writing and drawing cartoons.

What’s my point? As Einstein said, our delicate little plants need stimulation – and food, water and light – but mostly freedom. Freedom to learn, and freedom to be. As parents, it’s hard for us to let go and see what will happen, but I know that any child who is loved, cared for and provided with the necessary tools to learn – and the guidance to use them – will learn, whether we subscribe to a curriculum or not!

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