Many people think of home schoolers as a generic lot of Luddites who nix technology, lack social skills, grow their own food, live off the grid, and want to be around their kids 24/7. In my estimation, that describes, maybe, 5 per cent of home schoolers. “Hi, my name is Lisa and I’m a recovering home school mom,” I say to my imaginary 12-step support group of parents who survived home schooling their own kids.
So you’ve finally decided to home school, but have no clue where to get started… Just the mere thought of home schooling can be a very daunting task. Delving into the unknown can also create an element of self-doubt that fills your mind right off the bat. That, coupled with an overwhelming task of choosing and gathering curriculum, creating lesson plans, organizing supplies, and (possibly) teaching multiple grade levels can be quite disheartening.
If I have observed one thing after a decade of having a school-age child, it’s that the arts motivate kids to perform better in school. Sure, my daughter comes from an artsy family already. Her mom is a writer, and her dad is a theatre director, but she’s not an extension of us; she is uniquely herself, and her exposure to a wide variety of arts helps her discover her own passions, proclivities and personhood.
School should be an adventure in learning, and so should life. But if you have not taken the time to observe how your child learns best, your child might be struggling in school unnecessarily. Identifying prominent learning styles in children is crucial in helping them identify their strengths and overcome their weaknesses as they progress into a more diverse spectrum of courses grade after grade. We often needlessly separate creativity from learning. But when parents help children understand their dominant learning styles, parent and child can both use this knowledge to improve the child’s experiences, not only in school, but also in life.
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