Trying to adjust your lifestyle and thinking when you bring a child home to learn after having him in an institutionalized setting (read that school) is very difficult.
For you and the child.
The child has, most likely, had his natural desire to learn, his creativity and imagination quashed. He needs time to detox, take a vacation, have some down time -- however you wish to word it.
You as a parent need to deschool as well. We have been institutionalized ourselves and have many preconceived notions about what constitutes an education.
Here are just a few we must dispel:
- It cannot take place without a qualified educator who has years of college in preparation
- It has to take place in a classroom or classroom environment, with desks, chalkboard and texts or workbooks
- It takes place Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- It stops when we graduate high school (unless we choose college)
- Children must learn certain concepts in a predetermined manner
- Children must learn certain concepts at a specified age
- Children cannot learn without a qualified educator to hold their hand and guide them through the learning process
Some books I recommend for parents are:
- Dumbing Us Down:
The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto
- For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer MacAulay
- Learning All the Time by John Holt
- The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook:
A Creative and Stress-Free Approach to Homeschooling by Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore
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