What Should My Child Be Learning?
When you think about education, the subjects that probably come to mind first are the three R’s — Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. And for good reason! These three subjects form the core of learning. History, the arts, politics, science, computers… you name the subject area and you’ll quickly find a need for literacy and math!
However, an education based solely on these three subjects would not be very interesting. There’s so much more to life, and your child is craving knowledge and skills on their own developmental timeline!
Every homeschooler soon realizes that everyday experiences, such as running errands and taking walks in nature, provide opportunities for learning that their child cannot easily receive in a school setting. In traditional school environments, field trips are infrequent and heavily orchestrated. Learning is most often restricted to the walls of a classroom.
Not so for homeschoolers! We do not need to bring the world into a classroom. We bring our children into the world!
An Education for Life
With regular exposure to daily living activities, learning opportunities will abound. Your understanding of the big picture will help you to capitalize on your child’s intrinsic motivation and teach them everything they need to know.
How to…
Able to read text for pleasure and information and write to communicate thoughts, feelings, and ideas
Able to put themselves in the metaphorical shoes of another person and behave with polite manners and kindness
Able to get curious about a topic and research it to assess for themselves whether it is factual or inherently biased
Able to understand, acknowledge, and adequately perform their role in community with others
Guiding Them Daily
Children have the natural ability to begin the educational journey on their own. When babies are born, all of their senses are heightened. Their growing brains absorb everything around them. It’s an extraordinary process! Equally true, it is critically important for children to be nurtured in an environment with caregivers who offer heaps of love and support, yet don’t hold them back.
90% of the brain is being developed during those first, precious five years of life. The neural connections that are built during that time and beyond will have an enormous impact on your child’s future sense of self.
It doesn’t take a specialized “schoolish” environment for this learning to occur. Your child’s perfect education begins right here at home with a loving, caring family. The nurturing relationship you developed with your baby or toddler continues as they grow. The secure and stable foundation you provide will allow them to explore their world uninhibited, making joyful discoveries everywhere they go.
The biological impulses for learning are grand. Just think of the child who obsessively plays with Duplos or Legos, pauses to watch a small beetle cross the sidewalk, pretends to be “the mommy” in a family, or insists — quite emphatically — “I do it myself!” when running late for an appointment.
It is easy to dismiss these examples as childhood rites of passage. However, when we see ourselves as our children’s primary educators, we start to notice more and more of these impulses and begin to reconsider how we are guiding them in their quest to acquire skills.
The same repetitive, insistent behaviors occur when children are older and ready to gain academic abilities, like learning how to perform basic calculations or write their own name. At every turn, we need to be ready to offer our assistance.
Your child is ready to learn and will thrive with this approach to homeschooling.
The Essential Subjects
Within a Montessori-aligned, child-centered approach to education, Child of the Redwoods has identified 10 core subjects that serve the whole child.
If this sounds like a lot, don’t let it intimidate you. Teaching them all is easier than you think!
These subjects include Sensorial, Practical Life, Physical Science, Life Science, Humankind, the Arts, Reading & Writing, Grammar, Mathematics, and Geometry. When your child interacts with the world in real life, these subjects will naturally come up.
You will also be introducing lessons and activities for each one so that your child has a full range of exposure to the possibilities for learning. And with a little preparation and a solid curriculum to draw from, you will be ready.