I have to fix my mothers sink. It's not a big fix, just cleaning out the spigot filter. But, I'm going to get my kids to help. I'll have them get the tools by naming and describing them, and have them watch what I do so they can learn to problem solve and hopefully learn how something in there world works. After they leave tonight i will add to this post to let you know how it goes.
'K, the sink went well, but something else happened. I got my kids some cheap $2 Chinese junk flashlights a while back from Harbor Freight and they stopped working after 3 days or so. My oldest daughter found one of them and wanted to play with it. So, I got some new AAA Batteries for it, but still couldn't get it to work. My daughter asked to see it and after a couple of minutes pointed out so corrosion on one of the connector pads for one of the batteries. A few minutes of cleaning got rid of most of that, then I instructed her on how to put the batteries in properly. (Always look for the teachable moments) When I had her put it back together it actually worked!!! For about 30 seconds.
It really was more than I expected for Chinese junk, but the best use was getting to teach my daughter the wy and how things work.
Showing posts with label learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label learning. Show all posts
Oct 11, 2010
Sep 15, 2010
Raising Kids
Monday I had my kids, and after our daily swim (the waters getting COLD) my oldest wanted to work in her workbook that I got her from a teachers supply store.
I immediately dropped what I was doing (I think I was just cleaning up around the living room) and got out the book, a pen, and found her a couple of pages she hadn’t done already. She was doing the project non-stop for about an hour straight. At one point my youngest was looking over our shoulders, watching what we were doing so I included her by asking questions and responding to her answers. I was tricky balancing time and resources between two children, but supremely worth it.
Whenever your children want to learn drop what you’re doing, pay attention, and devote as much time as necessary to them. You must be involved. I had to cook diner while this was going on, so I set the heat lower than normal so that I could go back and forth to help her out. She needed me to read the directions and explain what need to be done on each page. Diner took longer, but my daughters were getting the experience of learning to enjoy learning. I don’t think there is any prep more important than that.
I immediately dropped what I was doing (I think I was just cleaning up around the living room) and got out the book, a pen, and found her a couple of pages she hadn’t done already. She was doing the project non-stop for about an hour straight. At one point my youngest was looking over our shoulders, watching what we were doing so I included her by asking questions and responding to her answers. I was tricky balancing time and resources between two children, but supremely worth it.
Whenever your children want to learn drop what you’re doing, pay attention, and devote as much time as necessary to them. You must be involved. I had to cook diner while this was going on, so I set the heat lower than normal so that I could go back and forth to help her out. She needed me to read the directions and explain what need to be done on each page. Diner took longer, but my daughters were getting the experience of learning to enjoy learning. I don’t think there is any prep more important than that.
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