WOW! I didn't realize how long it had been since the last time I posted...I guess that what happens when
life happens. For today's post, I will be completing an assignment for school. The assignment is to blog about our passion. My passion is education. It's funny, though, if you think about it...my passion is education, but I haven't completed this degree yet! There are several reasons why this is the case, but we won't go into that now.
So, my passion...my passion is education. This passion takes several courses and touches quite a few segments of the educational spectrum. The first part deals with educating adults, parents specifically. As adults, we pass the knowledge that we have gained down to our children and those of the next generation. Its kind of hard to teach them to do better than we have done when we haven't taken the initiative to learn better or at least broaden our scopes. As parents, we set the example for our children to follow, or in some cases, to do the complete opposite. Believe it or not, even when we don't think they are, children are watching and listening to what we do and say. We have got to give them a good example and help them to see the benefits of doing it right. Its kind of hard to do when we haven't sought out a better way for a better life (grade, response, reply, etc.). In the end, we can only teach what we know...
Children are such precious gifts and they deserve the best. No matter what your social or economic status may be, make it your business to give your children the best that
you can. That is not to say that we must keep up with the Joneses. Its doing the best
you can with what
you have to offer and work with. Instilling a thirst for knowledge is a free activity that all parents can facilitate. Instead of telling them the answers, allow their curiosities to lead them. Allow them to figure it out on their own. The process may be longer, more difficult and messier than it would be if you told them, but truly, what is the benefit in that? After they make the mess, you have another opportunity for a priceless lesson--how to clean up after yourself! Of course this statement is to be taken with a dose of common sense...there are some things that a six year old is not equipped to figure out alone (i.e., riding the bus alone, cooking, driving...you get the picture). Take them to the museum; you may even learn something yourself. Take them to the zoo. Have a scavenger hunt at home. Do something that will spark imagination and creativity and show them that learning is fun and not some bothersome task.
On a side note, a whole new world for my son opened up when he learned to read. He was always a very smart kid, but for some reason, phonics and blends discouraged him. We tried the "I Can Read" series and other books like them, but he thought of it more as a chore than anything else. Then we tried something so unconventional--comic books. Guess what. It worked! He is now an avid reader, not just of comics, but of anything with words (including food packaging, lotion bottles, and chapter books). We had to find something he was interested in to get him to want to read. My husband bought him a Wolverine (one of the X-Men, a Marvel comic) and told him that when he felt like he was ready, he could start reading it. One day, he picked it up and read the first page and has been reading ever since. Reading has broadened his vocabulary to the point where his teachers comment incessantly each year on how broad it is.
Then there is the family education. That, for me, has been educating the children and the parents/grandparents/guardians together. Teaching coping strategies for tough situation and making sure that all involved parties understand their roles along with the roles of the others. This is also considered a cornerstone of family empowerment--taking your strengths and making them work for you while minimizing your weaknesses. When families understand their interdependence upon one another, they function better and can accomplish much more.
These are my observations about life. If I am not Me, no one else can be. If I don't give you Me, no one else will so until next time, I'm...
Just Nedra
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