Here are some thoughts on the role of educating children from 'The teacher and the child'*. I thought that they gave food for thought and hopefully will give confidence to any doubting their ability to teach their child at home. I think these points made me aware of the great responsibility of teaching children and the quailites needed in a teacher - none of which I can assure you, are beyond a parent! May we not say that teaching is essentially the response of the adult to the moral and intellectual need and readiness of the child? Who knows their child best to respond in such a way? The whole subject of teaching and training is one which cannot be looked upon as a thing by itself apart. Teaching and training are amongst the fundamental, if not absolutely and fundemental processes of world-building. And all that the world is by the inheritances and traditions of the past reacts upon those who are labouring to make it what they think it ought to be. Teaching is not simply imparting knowledge - it is one character mingling with another. Part of the teacher's world-view will rub off on the pupil. Be sure that the teacher that you choose for your child has the same biblical world-view as your family. Similarly: The longer one teaches and observes the teaching of others the more does one become persuaded that there are spiritual forces in education which cannot be tabulated in a text-book. Subtle forces of personality, the direct influence of mind on mind and of character on character are ever at play. Choose carefully to whom you give this great responsibility. The formalities of method are no substitute for a living touch with the truth we teach on the one hand and with the child to whom we teach it on the other. Your choice of curriculum and textbooks, though important are not as important as the 'living touch' - that relationship between teacher and child. The more we know of the nature and the growth of the mind and heart and conscience in the child, the better are we qualified to be his educators. If this is so, how can a non-Christian begin to teach, knowing nothing of the link between head, hand and heart, only concentrating on the head and hand? They may provide some useful resources, but be careful of their limitations. Children are not empty minds into which we pour 'education'. Neither are they only dependent on that which we pour in. Children are always learning - though what they learn may not always be helpful to them. By the use of its natural powers of attention and retention the mind grows, even independently of the teachers efforts. At whatever stage the teacher's work commences there is a considerable amount of already developed mind to be reckoned with. To be a good teacher:
The broader and richer the conscious the larger the mind. The fear of God should be the noblest exercise of the human mind, because the consciousness of God is our highest consciuousness, being that in which all truth, all law, and all beauty center and form a harmony. T Children desire praise: when it is deserved, give it to them; it will go further than sweets, or treats. May we have confidence in our role and ability as home-educators. Study the Bible, know God, understand your task and study your pupil. See also: Providing a good education in lockdown: heads, hearts and minds. *All quotations from: The Teacher and the Child by H. Thiselton Mark: T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1902.
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It is my prayer that we may all be able to reflect on the education that we are providing for our children at this time, be it our usual pratice to home-educate or whether it is something that is temporary. I think that it is fair to say, that for many people, the word education makes them think of school book work and particularly of 'school' and a curriculum - unless you were home-educated yourself! Maybe you have never stopped to think much about your child's education and what you would like it to achieve. Maybe you have doubted your ability to provide a good education for your child at home. Maybe you think that school can impart knowledge that you do not have, or that your child will have better opportunities to develop social skills, or maybe even it will afford them opportunities that you cannot provide at home. Maybe you have already been home-educating your children but wonder if it is enough. Those of you who are new to home-educating can sympathise, no doubt, with this thought - 'Can I really provide a good education for my child at home? Is it enough?' This is a good question to think about. I want us to consider another question though. Are we too ready to undervalue, or maybe not even recognise, the important education that only we as parents can provide - in the home? Maybe even as home-educators we think only of the 'curriculum' and do not consider what is called the 'hidden curriculum' - those things that are learnt from the home/school environment itself which can heavily influence how a child receives the seen 'curriculum'. To help us to think about these things , we will first look a little more closely at what 'education' involves and then the education provided by the home. What is education?Education is more than knowledge. The 3 R's rightly concentrate on knowledge and there is a real place for that, however education must be more than simply accruing knowledge, it must lead on to using that knowledge. The ability to use knowledge wisely demands a vast subset of skills that cannot be learnt from a book. Heads, hands and heartsMan is not just 'mind', he is body and soul as well. Therefore, a child needs not just the training in knowledge (the head) but also the training of the hand (or the body) and the training of the heart (or the soul). Education is more than books and head knowledge, very worthy though this is. It needs to be balanced by the training of the hand and the heart if it is to be of use to the future man or woman. How do we train a child?Education is not just telling. It is not even a teaching process. It is training. What do we mean by 'training' ? Here is a helpful little rhyme! Telling is helping to know. Education and training cannot be split up with the home teaching the heart, the school the mind and the playground the body (the hand). Rather, it must be seen as a whole. The home provides the ideal setting for all of these aspects to be combined. So how does our home-education train - even if we normally send our children to school? A man may aquire information, and even memorize it, but he is not educated until this knowledge becomes a part of his life and is used to serve him. (Clarence Benson*) The education of the homeHome is the hothouse in which the tender plant is to be shielded and shaped during its most susceptible years. (C. Benson*) The home is indeed the most influencing factor on a child's future success or failure, for it is in the home that habits of life and attitudes of mind need to be fixed before there can be understanding. If you are home-educating due to the current lockdown, let me give you hope and inspiration: your child does not need to be stuck pouring over a book for good education - real education, to be taking place. Further still, your child is in the best place for being educated. A period at home could be amongst the richest months for your child's education. This is due to the fact that the home is the bedrock of all education and it cannot delegate its task to the school. The school can never replicate home, however much it tries. Parents should never expect the school to make up for its deficiencies. The home, says Clarence Benson* is 'in itself strictly an educational institution'. It's just that very often we think that we send our children to school to be educated and we just take care of them in between times - not realising that the school cannot make up for our lack of education at home. And education will be provided at home, even without conscious effort on behalf of the parents - either for good or for bad. However I'm sure, that you, like me want the best for our children. In other words - if we have children, then we are 'home-educators' whether we send our children to school or not - it comes with the responsibility of being parents. So let us look in more detail as to how we can provide a good home-education for our children during lock-down. It is the inalienable right of the child to be loved, to be understood and to be educated. The home should be the guarantee that these child rights will be recognised and realized. (C. Benson*) Training the headChildren are born with a capacity for knowledge. From the earliest days they start to make sense of all that is heard, seen, felt and tasted. It is the parents function to give the young child every opportunity and give him every assistance in his quest for knowledge. Parents will teach their child to speak, sleep, eat, walk, count maybe, learn colours even, and more, and then are often willing to hand the child to a teacher feeling that they are not skilled enough to take the child further. Do you know - the best teachers are learners with their pupils? You do not need to know everything to be a teacher - only to have enough love for your child to want to encourage him/her to learn. Many parents testify to having learnt far more from educating their children than they themselves learnt at school. The key qualification is not a degree, but love for your child. As the parent, you are perfectly qualified for the role of teacher - actually better qualified in some respects than the teachers! Education is more than mere imparting information, it is stimulating a desire to learn for oneself. Note however that not all learning needs to be 'fun'. In fact - most learning is not 'fun' - at least to begin with. Learning any new skill is hard work and involves lot of drudgery. Many hours of practice must be spent learning to read, before a child can enjoy reading books for him/herself. Similarly, think of all the practice needed to learn to play an instrument. This is a fact of life that children learn from their education. A home education is no different. Most of home-living is drudgery : clearing away dishes, loading washing machine, hoovering etc.. children need to learn to accept the drudgery if they are to be of use in the adult world and sadly, unless trained early in life, will not find the transition easy later on. Sadly, shielding our children from drudgery makes their lives harder. An important part of imparting knowledge is that a child is taught to know God. A correct knowledge of God is the only way to ensure a correct understanding of whatever else is taught in our school. This is an important part of education that is often overlooked. We shall find out more about this shortly. Questions to think about:
Training the handA study of children will soon tell you that children learn through the use of their muscles - they must move and this movement is vital for establishing unison between thought and will. We usually just say children are 'playing' as if this is somehow less important than 'studying'. However the hand needs training for productive use, partly for its own sake and partly for the addition to enjoyment and to the power of self-help which comes from an educated hand, says H. Thiselton Mark*. But even beyond this, the training of the hand has to do with the training of the temper, mind and character, which it also helps to develop. Think of the problem solving, the patience needed to see a project through to completion, the cooperation needed with others etc... So training the hand has the important job of developing supple fingers, and graceful movements, training the eye to work in coordination with the hand and the larger muscles of the arm under the guidance of a thought, but also a higher worth, that of the developing of a practical attitude which silently stregthens us for the future working-days of life, giving a sense of mastery and readiness to cope with practical issues. The home is well suited to providing such a training, as can a period of lockdown. Whether it be the garden, the kitchen, paper, glue, scissors, junk, pictures of nature, the wonders of the changing seasons, music, art, wholesome generous play - these are all instruments that can train the hand. Making mud pies, building dens and fortresses, make-believe are all valuable, unstructured educational opportunities. See their potential and give your child space and time to do such activities! Encourage such 'play': support, with help to make ideas turn into actualities and be your child's biggest fan club! With space and time the hands will flourish and not only the hands, but the mind too - as remember - they cannot be separated! Questions to think about:
Training the heartIf there is one area I feel that we ignore in our modern education, it is the training of the heart, or better called, the soul. We ignore the soul to our detriment as man is soul as much as he is body and mind - even if we say we are not religious. Think of a three-legged stool: head, heart and hand. It is solid and strong. Now take away a leg. The other two legs are suddenly of no use by themselves. Similarly, we can have children whose heads are full of knowledge, and whose bodies are strong and can do many things practically, but without the addressing of the soul, the other two will be rather limited. The soul cannot be dismissed and forgotten in the hope that it will not matter. The soul is always being trained - either consciously, or unconsciously. The challenge is - who is training our child's soul? Is it purposefully trained, or accidentally trained? Your child's future will depend on the answer. The soul has to do with worship. We all worship something, even if we say we are not religious. Does it matter what is worshipped? Yes, because the thing that is worshipped will shape the mind and the character for good or evil. The Bible tells us to worship God as our creator. God is good, pure and holy, there is no evil in him. Mankind is better for following the rules our creator has set down for our good. Therefore, alongside teaching our children truths from the Bible, we must ensure that the tools we use to educate encourage the child to lift his heart towards those things that are right, true, pure, noble and beautiful. This is not ideally a job for the school, although teachers can play a part if they support the home, for the task is the responsibility of the home. It is at home that the moral tone will be set. It is in emulating their mothers and fathers that children will form their code of conduct. If parents abdicate this responsibility, then children will soon look to their friends and as they get older, possibly to gangs to provide this great hunger of the soul to be satisfied. Ideally, the home, school and community should all breathe the same breath as it were so that the child is surrounded by good things and encouraged in them, by all. Sadly that is far from the case both in our schools and in society in this present day and age. Most importantly, the other two areas cannot function correctly without a correct knowledge of God being in place, for it is impossible to understand the world God has created, if we deny the existence of God himself. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Proverbs 9:10 How do we train the heart?First of all you need to decide what kind of character you would like your child to have. Here are some ideas to help you get thinking: Patient/impatient Kind/unkind Angry/even tempered Honest/dishonest Fair/unfair Hard working/lazy Polite/rude Self-centred/other centred And so on…. We must recognise that man was created by God in his image. Man has a soul that has been created to worship God. If man does not worship God, he will worship something else, which will be but a poor replacement. Secondly, in all our endeavours, we must seek to put before our children beautiful things: beautiful art that inspires praise to God, beautiful music with the best harmony - matching the harmony that God has written into creation as an example to us, books full of stories of heroic men who have done great, noble deeds, awakening impulses of kindness and a generous human faith, beautiful words, beautiful standards of conduct set for behaviour, beautiful thoughts expressed and encouraged through beautiful speech. Beautiful things inspire us to worship: who can look at a beautiful flower and not wonder and praise its creator? Who can study the vast heavens and not be amazed at God's greatness? Compare these with our current liking for slang, crude langauge; our back beats and harsh, clashing sounds of pop-music, with words of deeds that are far from pure, our stories of witches and evil doings, our art that cannot be interpreted, and our enjoyment of the trivial. These things are training our children's souls away from the beautiful things of God, and away from an understanding of God that in days gone by has made our nation great and so different from those around us. Questions to think about?
Fathers share equal responsibility for the environment of the home. The father expresses the masculine stanpoint. He can often provide a social interpretion of life, whereas the mother can explain personal relationships. The father acts as court of appeal when a family is properly ordered. The mother should ascribe to her husband a certain 'heroic quailty' in the eyes of her children. The mother's influence will be strongest in infancy and the father's in adolescence. Children need fathers. 'Any father who has a correct parental conception of the family function, and an adequate parental appreciation of the possibilities bound up in his (children), will put the home in the centre of his programme, and have all other interest subordinate.' 'The home is the worlds greatest university and the father and the mother the world's greatest teachers.' (C. Benson*) We all have room for improvement. Let us use this time in lockdown to truly evaluate our child's curriculum - the head, the hands and the heart. Let ask the Lord to show us those areas in our lives that are not yet bringing glory to Him. For Bible-based lessons that your family can do together please see our FREE home-schooling lessons: www.christianhomeeducation.weebly.com References: An Introduction to Child Study, Clarence H. Benson, C.S.S.M, London, 1927 The Teacher and the Child, H. Thiselton Mark, London, 1902 |
Welcome!After studying for an Early Years Specialism degree (B.Ed. Hons), and teaching in mainstream education, I home-educated my own children, after my husband and I were persuaded of the need to take responsibility for bringing up our children 'in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.' (Ephesians 6:4) We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
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