Being Honest: Home School Supplementation pt 2
Written by Christopher Pyle on May 1st, 2009 in Self Development.
We’ll increase the steps to take to ensure renaissance learning here in part II of II. In the first segment of this installment we looked into peer to peer and global socialization needs of the home schooled child and some ways we might ensure we get this socialization. Then we looked at the concept of learning from different environments, getting out of the house and exposing the home school student to experiential learning in the world we live.
The parent/educator may very well be the best all around instructor for the home schooled child; however, chances are the parent/educator is not a master in all areas. It’s important therefore, for the parent/educator to be able to keep his/her ego in check and look for opportunities to embellish the home school child’s education by finding individuals/organizations that are masters in the instructor’s weaker areas.
Even still, the parent/educator may be able to teach the fundamentals or the concept of a subject but may choose to enroll the child in a class, club or camp simply to change up the learning environment, the voice of authority. This has been alluded to a couple of times in the article. This is not an indictment of the parent/educator it’s simple human nature: the child is going to tune you out. Heck, most parents who aren’t teaching their children find the children will tune them out. Add to the normal job of parent, teacher, and your opportunity to be tuned out increases exponentially. So, be aware, look for safe opportunities to switch it up.
Once limitations are owned new doors can be opened to provide the home school child an unlimited education of life and learning.
Often home school kids aren’t physical enough. In school there is physical education, recess and or team sports. All of these offer physicality an important element in learning. Studies have shown tying physicality to a lesson or during a lesson increases memory retention. Too, there is the physical awareness of ones own body: balance, coordination, spacial awareness, muscle tone, etc. This isn’t to say all kids should be athletes but being physical, being in motion is positive for health and vitality, learning and recollection.
Fortunately opportunities to get the home schooler active are plenty. Look to your local park and recreation department, community service district, boy and girl club. Boy and Girl Scouts do different outings. There are more individual type activities like biking, hiking, walking, skipping rope. Outdoor oriented adventure camps are excellent for movement, self awareness and introducing children to physical challenge, success and subsequently self confidence. Look to local club type teams or rec department teams in your area. These are seasonal and your child will be able to sample a variety of sports.
Being physical leads to a self-awareness and self-discovery. It’s empowering to face an obstacle, take on the challenge of conquering and completing the task. This is a powerful moment in one’s life, the more one’s able to accomplish, the more confident and aware. Still more challenging and more rewarding is tackling the obstacle that initially creates the “I can’t do that” response and then conquering the obstacle. This is why people climb Everest or run a marathon or learn to dance. This experience can make us a better person, make us a stronger person and make us less likely to search for approval from elsewhere.
An interesting thing happens when a child is thrust into an entirely new environment stripped of old safety nets and patterns of behavior. In the adventure camp setting, with new friends (other campers) and new teachers (counselor/guides) encouraging and dictating what is to be done, a child will go farther, extending themselves beyond what they previously thought they could. They won’t turn for help or ask to quit the task nearly as quickly as they would if a parent was near. There are established patterns of nurturing and needing between parent and child and if the parent is there, the moment the “I can’t do this” flag comes into the child’s mind, they’ll turn and ask for help. The parent, conditioned to rescue and protect instinctively reaches out. In the new environment this doesn’t occur. Everyone involved is encouraging the completion of the task. Of course, it is completed and the personal awareness, confidence and new self-definition of who one is is amazingly powerful.
An excellent source of all of these aspects of learning: socialization, peer-socialization, experiential education, new voices of teaching, physicality and self-discovery, are outdoor adventure camps. We specifically suggest an outdoor camp because these are most often going to have a focus on physical/engaged learning with ropes or hikes, whitewater rafting, camping etc. These camps provide a whole host of learning experiences. If you choose a resident style the learning in magnified exponentially. The concentrated experiences lend themselves to tremendous growth and prove extremely healthy to the home schooler who not only finds new confidence but friends to keep in touch throughout the year.
