Can you describe your educational philosophy in 30 seconds?
If you can’t, you might be missing out on a really important aspect of homeschooling.
Think about it – every day you get up, get the kids ready and start teaching them stuff. Whether you do it through workbooks or hands-on projects or by having conversations, you are helping them along a journey of learning. Somewhere.
By having a clear educational philosophy, you can know right off the bat whether what you are doing is part of the journey, or just a side road. You can tell right away if your efforts are moving you forward, or if you are going backwards, or completely out of your way.
Having a learning philosophy, whatever it is, gives you a compass to use whenever you sit down (or stand up) to teach your children something.
Here’s our educational philosophy: To focus on being authentic, pursuing the things we are the best at and living life to its fullest. To learn something new everyday (whatever that might be) and to ask questions about the world around us. To be life-time learners. To follow the path that works best for us, and to understand, to the best of our ability, the paths that others have chosen. To believe in ourselves, believe in others and avoid comparing ourselves to others. To see failure as a stepping stone to success, not a judgement of our abilities. And to define for ourselves what it is to be successful.
Phew, that’s about 30 seconds. You can say a lot in 30 seconds. What’s your learning philosophy? And does your teaching style match up?
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January 7, 2007 at 3:55 pm
to be authentic, mindful spiritual beings
to recognize teachers when you see one
to enjoy the process as well if not more than the fruits of learning
to understand that every meaningful change requires community
to learn to fail
to really listen to the voices inside of you, and learn which ones are yours
January 8, 2007 at 7:06 am
[...] by gracefuljourney on January 8th, 2007 Tammy asks, “Can you describe your educational philosophy in 30 [...]
January 8, 2007 at 9:03 pm
What I sometimes tell folks asking about homeschooling….
“Imagine all the things you were curious about as a child…. like How do Planes Fly? and How is Chocolate Made? and How Big is the Moon? and How Do You Carve Marble Sculptures?…..
All those things that really fed your passion and made you curious about the world….. Now imagine that someone made a whole school just for you, made from all those things you were interested in. That’s how we homeschool, that’s why we homeschool.”
August 10, 2008 at 8:18 pm
[...] Seconds . . . or LESS Posted on January 8, 2007 by Cynthia Tammy asks, “Can you describe your educational philosophy in 30 [...]
August 14, 2008 at 4:21 am
[...] ago, Tammy asked us describe our homeschool philosophy in 30 seconds. My reply was “loving, living and learning”. I thought that was very succinct. [...]