Monday, April 16, 2012

Baby, I Was Born This Way



We all start out as homeschoolers, don't we?

This little capsule of life is born to us, or comes to us in other ways, and we learn every day.  We learn their sounds, their smells.  We learn their cries, their activity level.  We learn medications, when to ask for help.  We learn to ask for help, to take time outs, to find ways to get things done, to get back to the land of the living.
As parents, those early days and weeks and months of our child's life are tremendous learning times for us.  The truth is, we never really stop learning.

Are the stairs safe?  How many steps?  What is at the bottom of the steps?  How high can they climb?  On the his feet or on his bottom?  Are the stairs slippers?  Carpeted?  Are there obstacles?  Is she carrying something on the stairs?  Is he too close to the top of the stairs?  Can she walk up and down?

We learn continually about feeding, care, health, decision making, parenting, balancing, marriage, clothing, home care, finance, relationships, vacations, cooking, cleaning, community, gardening, setting boundaries, rules, comforting, loving, hobbies, and so much more.

Every one of us is a natural-born homeschooler.

Raising our children is the ultimate opportunity for learning, isn't it?
For example, I am far more patient than I ever thought I could be.  I know more about vitamins, minerals, and healthy food choices than all of our parents combined seemed to know, I know about correct medical treatment for many common and uncommon illnesses.  I have learned when to call in a professional for home care, healthy care, and other things as well.  I have taught myself computer skills, banking and business skills, community-building skills, teaching and learning techniques, geography, history, science, literary analysis, astronomy, editing, online apps, photography, many "how tos", and more, so much more.

Homeschooling is completely natural and normal.  It happens daily.
It's the same for our kids, you know.  They learn by doing things.  By having things in front of them that challenge them and interest them and that are engaging. 

Homeschool, Baby, you were born to do it.

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Do you find homeschooling to be "natural"? 
I hope you leave a comment.


3 comments:

  1. Homeschooling is natural if one counts the wonderings/ponderings/questions of every day.

    We had a "no screen Sunday" yesterday, and I had to keep a post-it of things-to-look-up on Monday! For those who just go through the motions of a job or free time (trolling silly sitcoms, etc), perhaps there's no learning, nothing natural about education. For those who pay heed to the blanks and seek to fill them, there's never enough time.

    Oh--and screen-free Sundays are a needed reprieve from the habit of looking up whatever pops into one's head. I recommend it to anyone who feels weekends are not long enough.

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  2. Yes, homeschooling has turned out to be natural to me. I always wanted to be a teacher but didn't want to have to deal with administrative crap, and I knew trying to teach 30 kids in cramped classrooms would drive me to drinking (well, more than I already do).
    I'm teaching a child who was labelled "learning disabled" by the school system because he sees the world a bit differently than the other kids. I see him as brilliant and quirky. I am enjoying our time together so much, especially since I was mostly just bored. Now I feel purposeful. http://tourettesfamily.blogspot.com/

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  3. Yes, correctly said, every one of us is a natural born homeschooler. We first learn thing from our home only. The surroundings, our family members, our friends, siblings, everyone teaches us. There are a lot of thing to learn from a single person. The way the family members and the surrounding nourishes us, the child learns that thing and it has tremendous effect. But if you talk about the skills to learn, you have to move outside. There the child get to learn about different skills which will help them to grow in their life.
    Baby Learning

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