Easy Homeschooling Starting Points:

Simply Supply the Materials

By Linda Dobson

When a  carpenter  builds,  a  seamstress  sews,  or  an EMT rescues,  day’s
end brings accomplishment she can see and touch. Not so with your child.
After  a  day  of  family  learning  activities,  your  youngster  is  still  the  same
size and his sneakers are still untied.

Some days you’ll swear your time would be better spent peeling bananas
for hungry jungle monkeys. A monkey with a full tummy at least represents
immediate  gratification  and  a  sense  of  successful  conclusion  for  your
efforts.

In  a  society  that  measures  success  in  tangible  results  (most  frequently
dollars!),  it’s  difficult  to  gauge  the  value  of  any  work  that  doesn’t  offer
immediate,  concrete  rewards.  The  important  aspects  of  education  – self-
respect, responsibility, compassion, and self-reliance, among others – can’t
easily be measured on a scale.

Supply the Materials and Watch What Happens

Your  efforts  may,  at  first,  seem  more  like  scrap  lumber  randomly
scattered across the vast universe that is your child rather than a remarkable
structure  you  watch  rise,  floor  by  measurable  floor.  But  the  Eiffel  Tower
didn’t appear overnight, and the most beautiful cathedrals of the world took
decades to complete.

lt  helps  to  think  of  yourself  not  as  “teacher”  the  way  you  remember  it,
but like the supplier whose purpose is merely making sure the builder – your
child – can get his hands on the necessary materials when he needs them. Be
happy when you make any sale, however modest. The true architect will use
the materials in his own way, in his own time.

Schools force a child into using his limited resources today. “Build a bird
house,” they demand, “so we may count how many sticks you’ve collected.”
At  home  there’s  no  need  for  immediate  “proof.”  Be  patient.  Don’t
measure. Who can say what exquisite masterpiece your child will shape and
build  from  the  scraps  tomorrow  – or  ten  years  from  now?  The  more  he
collects,  the  greater  the  structure  he’s  capable  of  building.  And  when  that
structure is life itself, don’t settle for a bird house today. Trust you’ll find a
castle tomorrow.

Simply supply the materials.

See also “Easy Homeschooling Starting Points: Simply Do Nothing…Together“

“Simply Do Nothing…Together” is part of “A Dozen Simple Starting Points” from Linda Dobson’s The Art of Education: Reclaiming Your Family, Community and Self. The 15th Anniversary e-book edition, just $4.99 and instant download, at the link right above.

A recent review of The Art of Education is available at Unplugged Mom.

 Link to this page

 Link to this page