My 13 year old daughter and I were talking about a myriad of subjects and it occurred to me, that thought that I often had when I was a teen: enlightened educators should heavily focus attempts to teach to the years from 1-12 and then again from 25+. AVOID trying to teach the teen!
Why?
Do you remember those years?! By her own admission, even when working on fractions or decimals or pre-Alg, listening to Swing music, reading Shakespeare, learning about arteries, or watching Louis Leakey videos this child is thinking about three things: boys, books, and her BFFs. Yes, she has that uncanny ability to have her pencil moving, her eyes roving the page, and to STILL be thinking about her friends.
It’s the hormones, remember!?
My secret for keeping her focused?
She follows her own bliss.
No, we are not the ubiquitous and unconventional unschoolers. She wishes to write, so she writes! And writes, and writes. And she reads and reads and reads. Attempts to actually teach her have failed for the past few months, and yet, somehow, she continues to blossom! She is thinking, talking, debating, exploring ideas, questioning, and being true to herself.
Truly, this is the moment of REAL homeschooling for me. I am thrilled to be witness to the fact that she is teaching herself!
One more thing...it occurs to me that I am learning again too...
One more thing...it occurs to me that I am learning again too...
Ah yes...the teen years. I'm honestly not looking forward to those.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you are blogging more though! :)