No, it’s not what you think. I’m sure your kids can talk, chatter, question, and occasionally demand (mine sure could!)….the question is, can your kids communicate calmly and clearly so that they can be understood? So that they don’t come across as rude or demanding? So that they can get along with people and even defend their faith?
How about email? Can they write emails that will make sense, come across politely and not make them look bad? Many employers say most of their recent-college-grad employees have difficulty communicating properly. How can you teach your children to be the exceptions to that rule?
Learn more about effective communication for the 21st century in a podcast I recently recorded with JoJo Tabares of Art of Eloquence. JoJo is a whiz at explaining how to raise children who communicate well, and why it’s so important that you do so.
Not everybody isd in a position to homeshool their children – in fact, the majority probably aren’t that fortunate. However, all kids (those who have access to the web and books) can homeschool themselves – patience, bear with me.
Flipping lessons – in which a pupil gets the background at home in their own time and at their own pace, can be done if teachers are prepared to ‘let go’ some of their control over the subject matter they are paid to teach. Kids go home with a plan to ‘find out’ and then come back to school ready and prepared to get involved.
That way, it isn’t the teacher pacing learning, it’s the pupil pacing what he learns and how he/she learns it. Some might say this is a recipe for laziness – that a kid will do nothing unless he’s made to – this is at the root of our problems – we assume the worst about our children when we should be assuming the best – and guess what – they feel it keenly, it’s just they don’t say it or if they do, we aren’t listening – everything a youngster does or doesn’t do says something about him or her. We aren’t paying enough attention, or if we are, we are forcing them into younger versions of ourselves. My Dad (RIP) tried all ways to get me interestede in his hobby – gardening, with the result that I detest anything to do with gardens except being in them – I love gardens – I took what I wanted out of them, leaving behind everything I was supposed to want. I decided for myself and my Pop, God Bless him, came around eventually. He grew proud of me even though I never became a prize winning gardener or brass band chap like he always wished he’d been. I became an English teacher – something he’d never thought of. I found my own way, my Mum and Dad paved the way in other ways – letting me do what I wanted as long as I did what I was told – that sounds silly, but it’s not. My Dad once told me that he trusted me never to do anything that would bring shame on the family, and I never did. That’s what they gave me, I did the rest. Children have got to have boundaries, but within those limits of what is acceptable and what is not, they have to be trusted and allowed to work things out for themselves – now THAT’s what I call hoimeschooling!
Thanks
Actually many people homeschool their children even though they’re employed, fitting it in around their work hours. I don’t know that it has to do with being fortunate so much as it does with being determined. I know little about UK schools; however, my husband has worked with many people from Eastern Europe and says they got far better educations than we did. American schools are largely a waste of time, so homeschooling becomes necessary.
Given your teaching background and your expressed thoughts, you might find the work of John Taylor Gatto to be interesting. He’s a former NY State Teacher of the Year who quit his job and became, among other things, a homeschooling advocate because of what he saw working in the U.S. public schools for 30 years: http://www.johntaylorgatto.com
I appreciate you sharing your ideas!