Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Shoved to Them

Home
Catholic
Homeschool Mondays – Always Ask

Homeschool Mondays – Always Ask

Last updated on: January 13, 2015 at 9:34 am by Rebecca Frech

Homeschool Mondays – Always Ask 2015-01-13T09:34:26-05:00 Rebecca Frech

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in homeschooling my children is to never assume anything, I always have to ask to be sure. The child who nods her way through a religion lesson may not understand a thing I’ve said to her, and the child who gets everything wrong on his math may understand it perfectly. You have to ask your children what they mean. Your child who is failing might not have a lack of understanding, but be an out of the box thinker.

My sweet #5 is that way. For example, his math problem last week said “You have a plate with 4 cookies on it. If Sally eats one of your cookies, draw what you have left.”

My son drew

I counted up the dots on the plate and marked it wrong. There were way more than 3 things on that plate.

When I handed him back his page, with every drawing marked incorrect, he started to cry. So I sat down and showed him that there were a lot of cookies on that plate.

“Those aren’t cookies.” He told me. “They’re crumbs.”

“Where are the cookies?” I asked.

“I ate them,” he answered. “They were chocolate chip so I ate all three of them because I like chocolate chip cookies.”

I explained to him that he hadn’t given the answer he was supposed to give, so he asked me to read the question again. He shook his head and said “They asked it wrong. They should have asked me how many I had after she stole my cookie, not how many I had left, because I wouldn’t have any left. I would eat them.”

I had to admit that he had a point.

A few months back, we had similar issues with a worksheet on what doesn’t belong in each group..

That book showed

and my son picked the juice.

and he picked the dog.

and he chose the island.

He got them all wrong…the entire page. I sat there thinking about how to explain this concept to him an a new way so that he could get it, and I was at a loss. That’s when I sat down next to him and said “Why the juice?”

“It’s the only one that’s wet” was his answer.

“The dog?” I asked.

“It’s the only one that’s breathing, and has fur, and can jump.”

I smiled as I asked “The island?”

“It’s the only one that you can’t move.”

He understood the assignment perfectly. He just didn’t see it the way the book writers had intended for him to see it. I explained to him what the “correct” answers were, and then gave him a gold star. He had gotten them all correct after all.

One of the beautiful things about homeschooling is that we have the time to sit down with our students and actually figure out how their brains are working. Sometimes it’s an opportunity to help them when they’ve gotten lost, and other times it’s a chance for us to see the world the way that they do. That chance to learn to understand them is too often undervalued when we are busy teaching our children the regular way of doing things.

There is a challenge there for us of not teaching them to see things only the way other people do. The thinkers who see things in new ways are the inventors and innovators who change the world for the rest of us. It would be a shame if we trained that out of them.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

March 31, 2013

Happy Easter!

Next Post

April 2, 2013 Crossfit 90 Day Challenge -- Day 2

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which prophet was told not to marry or have children as a sign?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jeremiah Ezra Isaiah Micah