Thursday, September 4, 2008

listening or rather not listening to directions...

This week has been very eye opening. I am observing and noticing what I need to learn in order to be a better homeschooling mom and teacher and what my daughter needs to learn to be a good homeschooling student.

My weakness when I was a teacher in a first grade classroom was not understanding how small concepts had to be broken down--and I lost my patience very quickly. This week, in particular today, I am seeing how detailed my directions need to be. I am going to be working very consciously and deliberately on this.

On the other hand, I realized that my daughter does not listen! Wowsers! In a classroom, Autumn listens very well. She is a compliant child and very influenced by peer pressure and conformity. So, she listens along with everyone else and follows directions. But, at home, it's just Autumn and maybe Sami and Mommy. Very, very different!

I had forgotten that most of kindergarten in the public schools is not focused on teaching students academic and learning concepts, but rather teaching them how to be students! This is what Autumn needs to learn, too, and so do I! So, our learning shall begin (actually it already has!) !

Please forgive my grammar/punctuation errors in this posting--I am tired today! =)

1 comment:

becky.onelittle said...

I agree, and I just had a`similiar discussion with someone about my kids. I've been told Nathaniel is not doing enough- but really, the most important thing is that he learns to sit and focus and also enjoy school. Reading will come, but I'd hate for it to come at the expense of his desire for learning. I was also told Micaela is doing to much- that she didn't understand everything that she was learning. That's true too. She doesn't really understand the whole concept of an adjective or a 'hypocotyl,' but she enjoys parroting definitions and using big words. Won't it just make her later years that much more interesting/rewarding if she doesn't have to learn a whole new vocabulary?