Whether it's your little preschooler whose just starting to read, or your teenager son on his way to college, you want to be sure they learn to love their education and become self-directed learners.
Both of them have been endued with a remarkable capacity of learning virtually anything they propose themselves to.
Nevertheless, their attitude towards learning will depend on their mentors and the teaching methods they use.
That is why it is of vital importance that parents understand the difference between teaching skills and teaching content.
And they can kill their child's motivation if they don't.
Traditionally all the subjects are assigned according to a curriculum chosen by the parent.
Different guidelines and hours of study are neatly predetermined and the student only has to follow the step-by-step instructions to acquire all that knowledge and - voilá!- he is educated!
Is he really?
I mean, it would be great if education were that easy. Just stuff it all down their throat in 12 one-year chunks and off they go to an adult life with a fabulous education.
Judging by the vast majority of teenagers and young adults that are bored to death with their education nowadays, this method does not work.
The key issue here is the difference between teaching skills and teaching content!
Skills require daily practice and discipline. It will take years and years of practice, perseverance and consistency for a student to reach a level of excellence in a certain skill.
Math and language arts are skills. Parents have to require daily practice of these with difficulty levels and time schedules carefully designed according to each child's need.
This way the student will develop excellent character traits like perseverance, diligence, responsibility, rigor and excellence.
Learning content, like nature or social studies, is a whole different story. It should always be fun and be chosen according to the students prevalent interests.
Don't ever choose content for your child. Let him use his acquired skills like reading, writing and math to study the subject of his own choice.
Let him experience his favorite area of interest with books, practical experiments and real life situations.
Don't worry if his chosen subject isn't very academic to start with. Just let him enjoy learning about it. He will very naturally get inspired to use his language and math skills while he is enraptured by his topic of interest.
This will catapult him into a study habit that will eventually lead him to love learning.
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And you can be the mentor who allowed it to happen! No idea of where to start? Visit http://www.Self-DirectedLearningForSuccess.com for tips and tools for creating a vibrant learning process for you and your child. Learn how to teach your child to teach himself in my FREE e-book: "The Power of Self-Directed Learning", and my FREE e-course: "Seven Steps to Consistently Change Your Life."
From Bettina Langerfeldt, who teaches people how to pursue their God-given gifts and talents by designing their own education with self-directed learning.
© 2008 Freedompioneer
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