Some days you think so hard for answers. Other days it just clicks. Tonight, it clicked for me. I got it! I figured something out that has been on my mind for years. I have always been interested in how children (and now my own children) learn. I love observing and to follow their learning development. I know the answer to a self initiated learning from the child is through interest and motivation. So I always wondered how I can keep my children motivated.

For me, this is what makes sense in terms of giving a motivation to learn for my children. We, the parents, need to show them how we use various subjects in real life. The school environment is so artificial and unnatural from anything starting with the classroom where children just sit, to the ways of learning with is through boring practice books.

It has to be the complete opposite. They need to be in the REAL world and do REAL things, so that there is a purpose behind their practice. Take reading for instance. Reading and writing is pretty boring in schools, repeating the same letter for a whole page etc. Why force it. As soon as a child sees all the uses reading and writing has in the real world, they will understand the importance of learning and become interested and motivated without any force. That is how I do it at home and I am having a hard time trying to keep up with my little ones. I love seeing them so enthustiastic.

Learning how to write and read could be so simple, because it is all around us. Take our child’s favorite book for instance. There are letters right there. Your child does not need to know what they are, but the fact that he/she knows you are using them to tell him a story is what matters. Still, despite all the words around us in our real world, children find schools boring and end up hating home work.

It’s so simple. Why should you waste time on something you don’t like if you don’t even know what it is for. Don’t tell your child that it is time to learn his ABC’s, just show your child how great reading and writing is.

My almost 4-year-old son reads simple words in two languages. He can spell out short words in one language. I have never told him or asked him to learn anything, not even his ABC’s that parents get so stressed out about. Yet, he is on the same level as other kids his age.

I don’t ignore or neglect my son. I let him see how we use reading and writing in the real world. I don’t withhold anything from him. To take reading as an example, some things we do and have done is to let my son write on the computer. He sees his parents do it. I usually open an empty word document and change it to a large font (so that he can see the cause and affect of typing). Then I read out loud all these strange sounds he has written. He laughs and it’s a fun game for him. But very helpful in the development of understanding how reading works. We also always write on their drawings. After they have made a picture, we write one or two words to describe what it is. Now the older one writes himself, but before (and with his brother) we would hold the crayon/marker together and spell out their “art.” Ladybug, Scary Spider, Orange tree etc. Then I put them on our wall and it makes them so proud. Their writing had a meaning and is not just “practice.”

Other examples are cooking. My kids love to help me cook. For them it’s a treat. So I try to include them in as much as I can. Cooking has so many learning opportunities. Not only about food, but we use math to count how many carrots we peeled, how much something measures, or to follow a recipe (reading again). You can even include science since cooking is all about chemical reactions. My children are so fascinated with how temperatures can change textures.

The biggest treat for my kids is probably when my husband takes out his tool box. It’s fun but it takes very fine motor skills to keep that screw driver in the right place on the screw and at the same time make a turning motion. Or to help measure a wall with the tape measure for hanging a picture. You get the point. Let your children be involved with your real life. Our children got to use our real screw gun to help make our dining room table. I was amazed at how controlled the boys were and how well they helped out. Now they are so proud of themselves and are reminded of their big job every time we eat. Great memories make great learning experiences!

See the school world is so unreal. You are mainly just told what you need to learn and what is important (rather than asked what you find important). That’s why it is so boring and that is why children waste so much time in school not learning for life!

I think for the most part, we (parents, teachers) need to show children how we use our knowledge/education in reality, then children will want to learn automatically. We shoule not tell them what to learn, let them initiate it on their own. Schools are way too controlling. Oh, there is so much to talk about when it comes to learning…