HomeAbout Blog Articles Curriculum Resource Directory Shop Facebook |
||||||||||||||||||
Download our FREE The Educating Parent Resource Directories today!
Plus... more FREE resources!
Support Groups: National SA VIC NSW QLD TAS ACT NT Looking for support, reassurance and information? |
Conversation Is Learning Too! © Beverley Paine 1997 All too often I forget where most of my children's learning originates - in our everyday conversations! Most of the reading I have done over the last couple of months has reinforced this belief in me, and with the hindsight of twelve years of home-based learning I know the truth of it. April, Roger and Thomas know a lot about the world they live in, not because they have read about it, or even seen it on the television, but because we talk about things a lot. Anything can spark a conversation, and conversations often lead to in-depth research, experiments and activities. Although quite often we already know the answers to many of our children's questions, there are times Robin and I have taken a topic much further for our own interest. The children get on what whatever they are doing, having had their curiosity sated, while we discover much more about the world than we knew before. I love this aspect of home education. Learning through conversation, with a little research thrown in when necessary, is fun and spontaneous. It certainly seems to cover all of the important things without the need to closely follow a prescribed curriculum. All too often reading, writing and arithmetic, the traditional 'basics', take precedence in our minds when we are thinking about education. I believe learning suffers as a result. 'Book work', because it leaves a tangible collection of records that can be looked at by anyone, and judged as evidence of learning, is usually considered more important than the everyday learning derived from conversation. How can anyone prove they have 'covered' a subject if all he or she has ever done is talk about it? Such demotion of conversation for the sake of 'evidence' is a sad fact of school education. Books have dominated learning for more than a century. That civilisation progressed before the advent of mass publication of texts is beyond refute. And it was able to do so because of a long tradition of storytelling and passing on relevant life and community building skills by demonstration and conversation. Talk is still the primary method we learn by. It is sometimes very hard for home educating parents to put down the books and to get on with the real work of learning - simply enjoying the conversations as they flow in, around and out of, the interests of the family. Some of the ways in which I try to encourage conversation in our family are:
However, I know we don't talk enough in our house. Probably more than many others and about a lot of very interesting things. But not enough. I love a quiet house, and find it suits my own learning style as I am emotionally sensitive to noise. I can't stand conversation and music at the same time, and definitely not conversation with talk-back radio or television in the background. I know a quiet house has had a slight negative effect on my children's language development. I also recognise that my children also need more people to talk to in stress free situations, different types and ages of people for different purposes. For many reasons we have been unable to access a variety of suitable social situations, and this hasn't helped. Not that most people notice, just their fussy mum! Given that things could always improve I am still amazed at the amount of knowledge my children have accumulated through conversation alone.Was this article helpful? Was it worth $1.00 to you? Your gift of $1 or more helps to keep this site operating offering encouragement and reassurance to families wanting better outcomes for their children. Beverley Paine with her children, and their home educated children, relaxing at home. Together with the support of my family, my aim is to help parents educate their children in stress-free, nurturing environments. In addition to building and maintaing this website, I continue to create and manage local and national home educating networks, help to organise conferences and camps, as well as write for, edit and produce newsletters, resource directories and magazines. I am an active supporter of national, state, regional and local home education groups.
|
and Learning without School! We began educating our children in 1985, when our eldest was five. In truth, we had helped them learn what they need to learn since they were born. I am a passionate advocate of allowing children to learn unhindered by unnecessary stress and competition, meeting developmental needs in ways that suit their individual learning styles and preferences. Ours was a homeschooling, unschooling and natural learning family! There are hundreds of articles on this site to help you build confidence as a home educating family. We hope that your home educating adventure is as satisfying as ours was! Beverley Paine
The information on this website is of a general nature only and is not intended as personal or professional advice. This site merges and incorporates 'Homeschool Australia' and 'Unschool Australia'.
The Educating Parent acknowledges the Traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Owners, the Custodians of Australia, and pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people viewing this website. Home education is a legal alternative Without revenue from advertising |
The opinions and articles included on this website are not necessarily those of Beverley Paine,
The Educating Parent, nor do they endorse or recommend products listed in contributed articles, pages, or advertisements on pages within this website.
Disclosure: Affiliate links are used on this site that take you to products or services outside of this site. Please review products and services completely prior to purchasing through these links. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question before purchasing or signing up. Always Learning Books, April Jermey assume no responsibility for those purchases or returns of products or services as a result of using these affiliate links.
If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions about this site, please feel free to contact us.
Text and images on this site © All Rights Reserved 1999-2024.