|
Your Exceptional Learning Abilities
by Charlie Badenhop
reprinted with permission: first published in Metamorphosis: Tools for Transformation a weekly newsletter by Peter Shepard www.trans4mind.com
Over the years, have you perhaps lost sight of the fact that you are a brilliant learner? "Huh?" you might ask, "Are you talking to me?" Here is a story to illustrate my point.
I was sitting in a restaurant talking to a Japanese boy in the first grade. I asked him how he was liking school and he quickly exclaimed that he hated school. I asked him why he hated school and he said, "Two reasons. One you have to sit still all the time, and two, there are too many things you have to remember."
I told him I agreed that being required to sit still was really "dumb." On the other hand I said, "I think you remember much more than your teacher realizes." This remark caught him by surprise and I felt like he didn't know whether to agree with me or ask me if I was crazy.
Speaking in Japanese, I asked the boy if he was learning some English. He said he was, and that English was really difficult. I told him that English was actually quite easy to learn, and that most every American child can speak English prior to entering grammar school. The boy sat quietly for a moment and then replied, "But Japanese children can speak Japanese prior to entering school!"
"Yes." I said, "Since you have already proven how smart you are in learning Japanese, I am sure you will also do great with English." Once again the child was at a loss for words.
The restaurant we were at had heavy paper covering the tables and there were crayons for children to draw with while waiting for the meal to arrive. Noticing the boy had a toy replica of a "MIG" fighter aircraft with him, I picked up a crayon and drew a simple picture of the plane and said, "This is a MIG" as I drew the letters MIG. Next I drew a pig and said "This is a PIG," as I wrote the word "pig." Then I drew a branch and said "This is a "TWIG" as I wrote the word "twig".
Next, I drew a very simple picture of a PIG sitting with a TWIG in its mouth, while flying a MIG, and I said, "See, the PIG is in the MIG, with a TWIG," feeling like I was replicating Dr. Seuss. The boy laughed, picked up a crayon, and began quickly drawing all sorts of things. Each picture that he drew, I labeled in English, and he was quite willing to repeat the English words after me. "Wow he said, if school was this much fun I wouldn't mind going!"
How about you? Were you forced to learn in a specific manner in school? Did your teacher help you understand the best way for YOU to learn? Did your teacher acknowledge you were a talented learner?
Every teacher, parent, and student needs to realize that each human being has their own unique way of organizing and thus understanding and remembering incoming information. When we lose sight of this, children come to dislike school and begin to believe that something is wrong with them. What a great disservice to humankind!
Wouldn't it be great if we were able to foster school environments that adapted to the children, rather than forcing the children to adapt to the school? Please take a moment and consider... You have your own unique and high quality way of learning. How can you better support yourself to be all that you truly are?
Charlie Badenhop is the originator of Seishindo, an Aikido instructor, NLP trainer, and Ericksonian Hypnotherapist. Benefit from Charlie's thought-provoking ideas and various self-help Practices, by subscribing to his complimentary newsletter " Pure Heart, Simple Mind ".
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
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...
Comprehensive 3 workbook 'how to home ed' course
covering the essential skills you need
successfully home educate your children
|
|
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.
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!