The Homeschool Minute ~ Hands-on Learning

I used to jump out of bed in the morning, quickly get dressed, and race out the door to catch a bus or walk/run to school. I walked in the Virginia snow, the California rain, and the heat of the Arizona desert. I got up too late for breakfast, never packed a lunch, and often had no jacket or umbrella or backpack. I was never prepared. My body was wide awake by the time I got to school, but my brain was still dozing. Sit down, open the books, listen to the teacher, write notes; the end. Get up, try to get to the next class before being bullied or made fun of, and sit down again for the next class. I slogged through each day just waiting to get home so I could eat and rest, relax and be myself … oh yes, and do all the homework I had accumulated throughout the day.
 

Looking back, the trouble makers weren’t really trouble makers, they were just boys who needed to move, wiggle, do something active … and the girls just needed to talk and relate; move and create.
 

My children get to do all of that and not be called trouble makers, rather respected individuals, and hands-on, real-life learners.
 

They can take their math or language arts up to the fort to the picnic table and enjoy their work with a snack and a pair of binoculars. They can read classics, listen to history on audio, and actually perform all those cool science experiments most kids only see on TV. They can open the art cabinet and pull out whatever they need to be creative anytime they would like. Oh, and they get the sleep and the nutrition they need–and no extra homework bogging down their free time so they can play baseball or go bowling or catch butterflies–without the stress.
 

Hands-on learning is the opposite of what traditional school offers children. Other schooling options have to fit the child into the school mold, rather than opening a door for the child to learn in freedom.  
 

Hands-on learning is doing things like lapbooks and drama and unit studies; playing games, and taking nature walks. Hands-on learning is creating artwork for grandma, and baking treats for the neighbors; it’s sewing and beading and paper crafting. 
 

Hands-on learning is gardening and raising fish or lizards or sea monkeys. Hands-on learning is knitting hats for orphanages and entering rabbits in county fairs. Collecting flowers or insects, rocks or chickens or snakes, and identifying them, researching their habits and habitats, and building exhibits. Hands-on learning in creating code for computer games and creating home based businesses as entrepreneurs. 

Your children will have far better memories and a far greater learning capacity, along with aptitude and life skills, because of all the hands-on learning you are doing in your home environment–much more than anything your own boring school days did for you.
 

In my schooling experience as a child, I was never able to really rest in body or soul, were you? But your children will have rest. And, they will learn where real rest comes from: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Matthew 11:29
 

In case you needed a reminder, you are doing what is best for your children by keeping them Home Where They Belong. 

 

~Deborah

 dwuehler@theoldschoolhouse.com