Quote from Forum Archives on November 29, 2003, 7:58 am

Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>

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THE HOPE CHEST
with Virginia Knowles
Tidbit #19 on November 29, 2003
You Teach Me, I Teach You!
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The Hope Chest is a free e-mail newsletter with encouragement and practical teaching tips. The writer is Virginia Knowles, wife of Thad, mother of nine children, and author of Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5th Grade, and The Real Life Home School Mom.

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Dear Hope Chest readers,

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving, as we did! Since we were at a large family gathering with dozens of people that we didn’t already know, I am particularly thankful that my children were cooperative and helpful with one another. It was sweet to see Micah offering to get a drink of lemonade for his little sister Naomi, and to see the older ones trot the little ones off to the bathroom.  (And no, they aren't this perfect at home...)

One thing that makes me thankful about home schooling is seeing all of the educational interaction that goes on in my family. I’ve always tried to instill in my children that knowledge is for sharing. So many people assume that success in academics is all about stuffing the facts into the brain and then churning them all around until you understand them, but the “input” and “processing” phases are only part of the story. Would we ever buy a computer that couldn’t “output” what we have put into it? No! Likewise, our children need to be able to effectively communicate what they have learned -- through speaking, writing, the visual and performing arts, and other means. One of the most powerful ways to do this is to teach someone else what you know! Let me try to describe several ways I have seen this play out recently in our home.

Mary (16) had just taught Micah (4) the poem “Roses are Red, Violets are Blue” and he was so eager to recite it to me and everyone else who would listen. He wanted to return the favor, so…

        Micah: “I’m going to teach you Yankee Doodle! Hmm… How does it go?”
        Mary: (singing) “Yankee Doodle went to town, riding on a pony…”
        Micah: “Yeah. OK. Now I can teach it to you!”
        (And she was sweet enough to let him do just that!)

 

Micah is always full of interesting questions and comments. Last night while I was putting him to bed….

        Micah: “Where do ideas come from?”
        Mom: “Ideas come from our brains.”
        Andrew (from top bunk): “IDEAS! Person, place, thing or idea… Ideas are nouns!”

        (My comment: “Hurray for First Language Lessons by Jessie Wise!”)

Micah had been drawing some very good rocket ships just from his head. Andrew said, “Hey, I know a book that shows how to draw really neat rocket ships and other things!“ He ran off to get it for his brother, and they spent quite some time drawing together.

Joanna (almost 11) has been very patient to play Scrabble with Andrew (6) recently. He’s getting good at seeing words from different letters, and often suggests ones to me when I am playing. Joanna’s a tough opponent, too, racking up about 450 points last night. Her crowning achievement was using all seven letters on the word “baguette.” She often teaches me new words to use, since we break the official rules and allow an open dictionary all the way through the game. On a recent word-finding foray, she found one that comes in handy for ditching a J at the end of the game: jo. (It means sweetheart or beloved, and coincidentally, we sometimes call her Jo for short.)

We’ve been cleaning out Thad’s mom’s house and bringing over the last few odds and ends. I snagged an automatic blood pressure monitor and tried it out at the kitchen table. I was pretty proud of myself for figuring it out, but Julia (14) chided me: “Mom, that’s not the way you do it. You need to have this cord here over your artery and make sure it‘s not twisted.” I can tell she learned something from taking care of her Grandma all those months! She’s going to make a good EMT!

 

Mary checks out books from the public and college libraries that she wants to read, but they don’t always match up with the credits she is taking this semester. Where do we fit in a book about socio-linguistics? I wasn’t even quite sure what it was, but she explained it to me. She also tells me all the interesting tidbits she runs across. I’m thankful that she likes to learn for the sake of learning, and not just because something is assigned.

I’m also glad we’ve been studying geography this year, because I’ve been learning a lot! We put up a large world map on the wall, and now even our preschoolers can point out different countries after their older brother and sisters teach them. Our map work paid off on Thanksgiving when we met a lady named Lori who had lived in Suriname. Until this year, I probably would have guessed this was in Asia or Africa, but I actually knew it is one of the smaller countries on the northeast coast of South America. Rachel (12) floored the lady because she identified it too! Lori did tell me a few things I didn’t know. Suriname used to be a Dutch colony, so many Jews immigrated to there from Holland during World War II. Hitler was such an evil man that he sent ships after them as they fled into the South American jungles. Lori said there is a German shipwreck still visible in a river in Suriname! Yow! I didn’t know that!  You learn something new every day!

Rachel and Joanna wanted to put up some Christmas decorations the other day, but I didn’t have time to work on it with them. Fortunately, Rachel had helped me last year, so she was able to show Joanna how the artificial Christmas tree fit together. They managed to do it without me! Rachel also coached Andrew through making the pineapple pies for Thanksgiving. He was so proud of himself!  

 

Rachel shoved a home school catalog into my hands the other day, pointed to a certain title, and said, “Mom, you need this book so you can teach to Lydia’s learning style!” Ha! She is the home school catalog and curriculum princess of the house -- I’m the queen, of course!

Lydia (9) also teaches us lots of things. Right now she is flipping through a cake decorating book recommending different designs to try. She’s especially good about keeping Micah and Naomi (2) occupied with building forts and dressing up in wild costumes. One of her current endeavors, along with Joanna, is teaching baby Ben to say Mama and Dada. She often advises me on practical matters, and wasn’t at all pleased when I snipped off Naomi’s baby curls last week!

Joanna and Lydia asked the littles ones what they wanted for Christmas so they could write a shopping list for me. I even took them Christmas shopping with me yesterday so they could tell me exactly what to buy! What would I do without them?

Naomi says of Ben, “My baby is nice! Ben, I get you another toy! Ben!”  Now she is trying to read Franklin Plays the Game to him right now. Last week she commented, “Ben is prettier than I am. Wait. Boys aren’t pretty! What’s the word?” After one of her sisters told her, she agreed, “Yeah! Ben is handsome!” Naomi verbalizes her thoughts well. We certainly encourage this! After all, this is such a vital part of her education!

Here is just one paragraph from the chapter “Teaching Through the Years” in my book Common Sense Excellence (www.thehopechest.net/CSE.html):

 

"Spontaneous child-to-child teaching can be very rewarding. One major blessing in home school families is that the children often teach one another, with little or no prompting on the part of the parent! In our family, my children read to each other, coach basic skills, make up little worksheets for the preschoolers, play educational games, give dictation for a sibling’s grammar lessons, show how to do a certain kind of hairstyle, help with computer programs, and so much more. I like to let these cooperative learning situations arise spontaneously, because it builds relationships when there are willing parties involved. It also preserves an older child’s ego, because she perceives herself in the leading and helping role."

 

Well, I guess you can tell I’m pretty proud of my children right now!  They aren't perfect, and they often frustrate me, and I often frustrate them, but they still make being a home school mom a terrific job. After 12 years of doing it, I’m looking forward to the next 18!

In His Sovereign Grace,
Virginia Knowles
www.thehopechest.net