Homeschooler Savvy

Mud pies - follow up

The real title of this post could possibly use the "streakers defence"  or "it seemed like a good idea at the time".  Encouraging your kid to play in the mud.  So here's the down side in full visual force for you.  Here's the other downside I discovered today.  The normally unused screen door lock had to be used today, but it was jammed up with mud from above mentioned learning experience (muddy hands turning the knob to get in).  Consequently we stood for 5 minutes in the VERY cold wind attempting to jam the key into the lock, past the mud, now turned to a powder very simliar to cement....

Mud Pies - what's the point?

With temperatures around the 75F mark (22C) for the middle of winter, we were not going to sit inside all day doing school.  OK, we were not going to sit inside very much at all - at least until the Severe Thunderstorm Warning (hail and 45mph winds) and the Tornado Warning went off.  At that stage, school inside looked like a good idea.  But until then, Mud Pies were the obvious activity of choice for outside.  Plenty of water from previous rains, large mud patch which the dogs had dug around a tree, and temperatures warm enough for light clothing and barefeet.

Mud Pies are a wonderful activity on many levels.  Those new to homeschooling with young kids should take note.  Mud Pie "work" strengthens the muscles in the fingers they write with and improves their dexterity. It allows for uninterupted (stay away from them!) play - this improves their ability to focus. 

Ever seen a child in "The Flow"?  Watch one (from a distance) playing with mud or sand.  "The Flow" is when you go into a time warp, your mind is on your activity and is not cluttered up with running through the "to do" lists.  (Remember how that used to be?) 

If Mud Pies are made with friends, then this often helps them role play social situations ("Would you like some tea with that mud?").

What better introduction to pottery or other three dimensional media?  The science of Mud Pies, you learn that if you add dry dirt to wet mud, your creation becomes firmer (Chemistry).  

What happens if you throw a mud pie that is sloppy?  Is it easy to catch (Physics)? 

I could go on and on, but you get the idea.  There's more benefit in letting your kid play outside in the mud than just a quiet house.  But the main reason I think Mud Pies are a must as part of a childhood is simply because it is fun.

Almost forgot!  Mud is another VERY cheap art material....

Note: The boy version of Mud Pies is Mud Bombs.

Aussie Kim

New Homeschooler Q & A: Part 7 - Involving other family members in homeschooling

7. How can I involve my husband and my mom in the homeschooling process? I don't have to do it alone, right?

ABSOLUTELY, if it is humanly possible do not attempt to homeschool totally alone!  Remember though, that kids do like routine (even if I don’t!) so when someone else takes over, it helps if the routine stays sort of the same.

I get my husband to read as much of the read aloud books as possible, he does it in the evenings with one kid either side of him in bed.  They love it.  Every now and then, if he's home during the day (which happens with farming work), he will homeschool and I will tend to other things (run away...run away....).

To make it easier for those angels helping you, write out a list of what schooling needs to be done and, if possible, let them sit with you while you are teaching, so they can see how it works (and doesn't work).  Then book yourself a massage, facial, and shopping day – and leave him/her to teach for a day. 

WARNING: Your spouse/mother/friend is NOT you. The kids WILL be taught differently - but I think this is a good thing.  DO NOT COMPLAIN if it is not done EXACTLY as you do it, just fix it up later.  DO NOT COMPLAIN if ALL the school work you normally complete in a day is not finished, just be grateful that the kids did some of what they needed to.  A good thing to remember is how good it felt to go off by yourself for that day, without the kids.

If you are in a place where parents/spouses cannot school during the work week, why not take Mondays off from school and have those people school the kids on Saturday? 

If you are in a place where you are new to the community and your normal support group is a long way away (eg you move from Australia to the US), join a homeschool group, make friends of other homeschoolers, and offer to take their kids for one day every 6 months (or less!).

Good Luck with it all, and remember, try NOT to do this alone, there is help out there!

Aussie Kim

Guaranteeing your kid's success in academic (and any other) challenges

In Scientific American Mind this month there is a fascinating article which all homeschoolers would do well to read. 

In essence the research indicated that those children with a "growth" mindset were much less likely to give up when the going got tough.  How do we give our kids the "growth" mindset?  By praising their efforts and hard work (which can be improved), not their "talent" or "gifts" (which they see as a "given").  This way you allow the child to see that they can get better at anything they want by hard work. 

These paragraphs I thought were particlularly interesting:

"How do we transmit a growth mind-set to our children? One way is by telling stories about achievements that result from hard work. For instance, talking about math geniuses who were more or less born that way puts students in a fixed mind-set, but descriptions of great mathematicians who fell in love with math and developed amazing skills engenders a growth mind-set, our studies have shown. People also communicate mind-sets through praise. Although many, if not most, parents believe that they should build up a child by telling him  or her how brilliant and talented he or she is, our research suggests that this is misguided.

In studies involving several hundred fifth graders published in 1998, for example, Columbia psychologist Claudia M. Mueller and I gave children questions from a nonverbal IQ test. After the first 10 problems, on which most children did fairly well, we praised them. We praised some of them for their intelligence: “Wow … that’s a really good score. You must be smart at this.” We commended others for their effort: “Wow … that’s a really good score. You must have worked really hard.”

We found that intelligence praise encouraged a fixed mind-set more often than did pats on the back for effort. Those congratulated for their intelligence, for example, shied away from a challenging assignment—they wanted an easy one instead—far more often than the kids applauded for their effort. (Most of those lauded for their hard work wanted the difficult problem set from which they would learn.) When we gave everyone hard problems anyway, those praised for being smart became discouraged, doubting their ability. And their scores, even on an easier problem set we gave them afterward, declined as compared with their previous results on equivalent problems. In contrast, students praised for their effort did not lose confidence when faced with the harder questions, and their performance improved markedly on the easier problems that followed.

Making Up Your Mind-set
In addition to encouraging a growth mind-set through praise for effort, parents and teachers can help children by providing explicit instruction regarding the mind as a learning machine."

Read the whole article here!

The right way to praise is also discussed in the books by Mazlish and Faber (see books we don't lend out in right hand column of this blog). 

Many moons ago a friend of mine gave me a book by Alfie Kohn (also see books we don't lend out for Punished by Rewards and No Contest).  He has done an incredible amount of research on what happens when you praise and reward children.  He believes the traditional school systems are turning out parrots who are only trained to think superficially.  Basically he showed, (with what seemed to me like 346 different reasons) why you shouldn't praise your kids the way we normally do. This article, entitled "Five Reasons to Stop Saying "Good Job"" pulls out the key points he makes.  I read his books before my kids were school age, it was another reason I chose to homeschool.  It is also the reason I was so attracted to the Montessori Method, as her teaching method is based on a similiar perspective.

"Scores of studies have found that the more we reward people for doing something, the more they come to lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the reward." Alfie Kohn.

 

Well, you ask, what AM I supposed to say? All the books and articles I have read say the same thing.  Make observational comments.  Here are some examples, for more examples, go read the links or the books!

For your precious budding Monet: "I see you made the moon green!"; "It looks like you put alot of effort into drawing that alien."; "What is your favorite part of this picture of me?". "The more sketching you do the better you'll get at it."

For your budding Olympic athlete or Rhodes scholar: "It looks like your hard work paid off on the test!"; "I notice how much you are practicing throwing that football, I guess you really want to get better at it!"....

For your potential Social Organizer: "I see you worked really hard to figure out how to get along with your friend."; "You are really trying to make your friend feel welcome here, I bet she appreciates it!"...

Kids can get manipulative (understatement alert!) - particularly if they are used to praise.  If they use the old "Don't you like it?", I recall one of the above books recommending you say: "I think everything you do is special to me."  and then try one of the above phrases to focus on any effort involved in the achievement. 

Want another reason to choose a curriculum heavy on reading?  Read this article by Alfie Kohn. 

Remember, anyone can change the way they praise - you just have to work hard at it...

Aussie Kim