|
Educational Benefits of Chess
© Beverley Paine July 2001
As unschoolers, my children learned more from playing than they did 'lessons'. In our first year of homeschooling I was often unwell and this meant my children frequently played all day, sometimes for days on end. It soon became apparent that on the days they weren't doing 'school at home' they were still learning reading, writing and even maths! Consequently, playing games became an integral and important aspect of our home educating lifestyle. I
We've had a round of chess fanaticism at our house lately and it has been a lot of fun. Quite often families ask me how my children learn and I like to point not to reams of work from educational books but to the many fun games and activities my children seem to continuously engage in. Some time ago I came across this list of the benefits of playing chess by the international master chess player Aleksander Davidovic. I can't dispute his findings!
- Chess greatly helps the development of the analytical mind.
- Children practicing chess once a week have better results in subjects like mathematics and physics.
- The ability to concentrate on a given subject increases together with time spent on studying chess.
- The increase of determination and self-confidence becomes evident even after a few classes of chess tuition, as students learn to solve over the board problems by themselves.
- One of the main improvements is better organisation of thought. Since a game of chess is normally played with clearly defined time limits, methods are developed to help organisation of thought so that students can do their best within the available time. It then affects all fields of their work, making solving of different problems faster and more efficient.
- Analysing a chess game has all the elements of scientific research. It also develops students' independent thinking.
- Through chess, students learn to control their emotions, to be patient, and not to give up easily.
- Chess-playing children have much better results when it comes to making decisions. Once their goal is set, they act with persistence and dedication.
- Chess develops creativity and imagination. It usually comes as a surprise, as many think that chess is all in calculations. If this were true, computers mould be able to beat every human player.
- Chess encourages logical and lateral thinking and develops visual memory.
- Every chess player has to be in excellent physical condition to give his/her best which is achieved through active participation on other sports.
The only other things I can add is that when we play chess at home we have lots of fun, explore our competitive natures and learn to cope with loosing and winning, talk about many other topics as a game generally last up to one hour, and lastly it is a most relaxing past time!
Read more articles about the educational benefits of chess:
Beverley Paine is a mother of three young adults and a prolific writer of homeschooling articles. More articles and essays can be found in her books, available from the Always Learning Books online bookstore.
Back to Teaching TIps
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.
"You've been an inspiration to me, I love the way
you really listen to people." Vanessa
"Whenever I read your writing I always come away
with increased confidence in my ability to provide and
share a wonderful learning journey with my family!" Davina
"Your guidance, understanding, support and words of
wisdom changed our lives. We now offer support and
organise many homeschooling events for others." Lesley
"Thank you once again for your prompt and friendly service.
I am convinced that your books are going to add
quality and peace of mind to my journey of teaching my kids
at home! Just from studying your website, until almost
2am
in the morning, I 've been encouraged!" Louisa
"Thank you for all your many,many reassuring words
over many, many years. You probably don't know exactly how
valuable you are to the Australian Home Education community.
I've been reading your stuff for maybe 8 years or more now.
And I'm very grateful." Gythaa
CLICK HERE
if you want to learn
how to write your own education plans
to suit
your unique children's
individual learning needs?
Or you are looking for quality curriculum and teaching tips...
|
|
Welcome to the World of Home Education
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
3 ESSENTIAL STEP BY STEP GUIDES
Let experienced home educators Beverley, Tamara and April walk you through HOW to create a learning plan that builds on solid foundations that works for YOUR family AND ticks all the boxes for home educaton registration!
|
Tap into Beverley's
experience
through her books
"Your books, your blogs helped me beyond words... they helped me to find comfort in knowing it is ok to choose exactly what is best for my family." Nisha
"Your books and information are mind blowing and already I am feeling good about this new experience." Diane
"Your guidance, understanding, support & words of wisdom changed our lives." Leslie
"I feel specially inspired by Beverley's words and, the more I read her comments, the more inspired I feel, since my need for support, respect for different parenting styles, and information are fully met." Marijo
|
 |
|
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.
Advertise on this site.
Australia's premier online annual conferences, lifetime access to video and audio recordings, freebies, notes and associated resource guides.
EVERY SUMMIT IS UNIQUE!
$29 each  2023  2022 2021
$25 each 2020 2019 2017
"Biggest and best Aussie homeschool event of the year!"
Home education is a legal alternative
to school education in Australia.
State and Territory governments are responsible
for regulating home education and have different
requirements, however home educating families
are able to develop curriculum and learning programs
to suit the individual needs of their children.
Without revenue from advertising
by educational suppliers and Google Ads
we could not continue to provide information
to home educators. Please support us by letting
our advertisers know that you found them on
The Educating Parent. Thanks!
|
About
Thank you for visiting!