We all want to raise children who love learning—and if they love homeschooling, too, well, that’s even better. I wanted my kids to love learning and homeschooling so much twenty-five years ago that I wouldn’t teach a child to read unless he could learn within a few weeks with no tears. (Otherwise, we put it on the back burner for a couple more months.) I was serious about this love for learning stuff!
Now on to Junior High and High School!
The concept behind the Independent Work List is that it helps a student become, well, independent. In that way, the chart/list/planner should grow with the child—more independence/less neediness.
More responsibility/less spoon feeding from Mom.
These will be in no true order–just some things that I want to re-emphasize from the younger ages as well as things that pertain only to olders.
This week’s Wondering Wednesday answers readers’ questions about how to implement Independent Work Lists for children, especially junior high and high school by using daily check lists. (See the podcast episodes that introduces the concepts of Daily Duties and talks about using charts and lists, work order, teaching independence, and more in last week’s Wondering Wednesday podcast episode here.)
The first day was a bust. The first week was less glamorous, productive, and family-unifying than you envisioned it. So what is the natural reaction to that?
The natural reaction is to doubt. Doubt that God called you to this. Doubt that you can do it—regardless of the calling. Doubt that you are the best teacher for your children. Wowsie, even doubt that you are a good parent at all!
But how does God want us to react to less than perfect beginnings? Knowing the character of God—merciful, wisdom, loving, kind, instructive—we can know that there are probably two reactions that God would have us ponder:
In addition to previewing textbooks with your student, you can help your kinesthetic learner even more by helping him label portions of his book.
Try this approach:
