How We Learn

Because many of my friends know me as the preschool teacher, I get asked lots of questions about preschool learning topics and am also the recipient of many different comments about such topics as well. Over the years there has been a consistent theme that makes me sad, and has lead to various ideas of how to help be a solution in this problem. I have been surprised to discover how many parents feel completely inadequate when it comes to teaching their young children. Most of the time these parents have bright, well developed children which tells me that they are in fact doing a good job and they just don't realize it. Occasionally there is the situation where perhaps improvements could be made but they are not overwhelming, life changing things to be done. Teaching young children can be done so seamlessly during the natural interactions we have with our kids. Which is the other big theme I have seen: the amount of time parents spend with their children-and the effects thereof. Because all of these natural opportunities can only take place if you are getting down on their level on a regular basis and spending meaningful time with them, both structured and spontaneous. This post is not meant to be my soap box, but just an example of an answer to the question I most often get which is what do I do to teach my children all the things they seem to know. 

The other day while we were driving in the car Koyle was talking about how excited he is to go spend time at his Grandma's house while mom and dad go on a trip. "How many more days?" he kept asking. So I told him we could make a paper chain to keep track. That afternoon during Landon's nap we got to work. He helped cut the strips of paper out (I did some of them because this was going to be a pretty long paper chain), which worked on his cutting skills. Then we put the papers in the pattern we wanted them to go, which gave us a chance to observe what a pattern was and create one while we went. Then he glued the papers together, stringing each one through-again working on those fine motor skills. While we worked we talked about all sorts of things. The whole process took us maybe 30-40 minutes of my time. But not only was he getting great practice of important skills at this age, we were having quality time together, and he was so proud and excited about his paper chain. Every day he remembers to pull the next piece off. I love when my kids get to share in the joy and excitement of looking forward to the fun things we get to do as a family.

 Another day we made bird feeders. The boys love watching the birds come to eat and they have been asking to do this one for a long time. The birdseed and the gelatin cost maybe $5. They got to work on their math skills while they helped me measure, and observe properties of science while we watched the gelatin boil and get thick. (No I'm not the cheesy mom that says, Look kids-a property of science, the water is boiling.... Remember those NATURAL learning experiences I talked about. Sometimes I point things out or ask what they are observing, but the more things kids are exposed to the more they file them away in their book of knowledge and piece together the rules of our natural world.) Once again they got to use their fine motor skills as we filled up the cookie cutters and pressed them down into the shapes. And we have gotten to learn about and enjoy the birds as we watch them come and eat our bird feeders. This project took about 15 minutes.

Moral of the story. By taking leads from the things my kids are showing interest in, and creating the time and energy to build upon that, provides ample opportunity for my kids to learn the things they need to. And it's not hard, or intimidating. It doesn't require a degree, or work experience. So go have some fun times learning with your young ones and be confident that you can and ARE the best one to teach them.