Train up a child…

Children Like to Explore

Recently my husband and I went to Verona, MO, and tried to find the monument marking the location of the first Sunday School west of the Mississippi River and south of the Missouri river. We tried several dirt roads and stopped and talked to folks. It was fun! It reminded me of the many times as a child when I roamed the banks of Spring River and my friends and I explored haunted houses and a cave near the old remains of the Sunday School building.
The craving for adventure is surely inborn in every child. Children love to explore places and things. Fall is the perfect time of year for doing so. Unfortunately, now it is advisable for parents to be with the children for safety reasons. There are many things that parents and children can explore together. Old barns, caves, trails, dirt roads, homes of ancestors, and historical markers are just a few. Has your child even been in a cellar? There are many of those around sitting where houses once were. If this isn’t enough, a scavenger hunt can be arranged for fun as a game for a fall party.
Many natives of the Ozarks can give directions to caves. Of course, permission to go on property must be obtained, but many old-timers would love to have someone interested in their land and would probably have some stories to make the trip even more exciting. Be sure to take flashlights and dress in old clothes. Getting dirty is part of the fun! Our son took his aunt and a friend to a cave near Carr Lane where they had to crawl in a little hole that was the mouth of the cave. She will remember that a long time!
It is hard to drive very far without seeing signs alerting to historical markers. Instead of waiting to see them, why not go looking for them. See how many can be found in one day. Pack a picnic lunch and enjoy sitting outside and eating together in the quiet of nature. There are markers of the “Trail of Tears” in various places. A new one has gone up in Verona where some of the Cherokee tribe spent a winter on the Spring River before going on to Oklahoma. There is also a statue of a doughboy from WWI in the park in Verona.
One of the favorite pastimes of my sisters and me as children was to explore “haunted houses”. These were just empty houses that we imagined to be haunted. Old houses and barns can be unsafe, so parents need to definitely be with the children to do this activity. It is fun to see how the houses and barns were designed and the purposes of each part. In one such “haunted house”, my sisters and I found an old Sears catalog showing the styles of the 1800’s. It was fun looking through that catalog.
As a teacher, I can’t help but mention the educational value of exploring. Children are picking up new vocabulary that helps them in their reading. If they are doing something such as a scavenger hunt, they are learning problem-solving and deductive reasoning. The best thing of all is that families are having fun together and making memories that will last a lifetime.

Homework is a good thing. No matter how much children moan and groan about it, there is no doubt that it is good for them. Of course it is important to have the right amount of assignments. It is not good to overload students, but if the right amount of homework is given, there are many benefits derived for the student.

Homework is necessary to give practice of skills taught in school. Teachers do not have enough time to give adequate practice. More and more topics are added for teachers to teach, yet nothing is ever subtracted and no additional time is allowed. Homework is good to help the students develop proper habits of study and self-discipline. As parents either assist or observe their children doing homework, they come to a better understanding of the learning ability and achievement levels the children possess.

There was a time in education that educators thought that if a child simply understood subject matter, practice was not necessary. I remember having a math textbook when I taught second grade that required the children to complete as few as six problems each day after the concept was taught. I knew that the children needed more, so I kept extra math papers available all the time for the children to choose and work as their time permitted. Math, reading, and writing are skills. All skills require practice because they involve more than understanding. They involve the use of nerves and muscles. Just because a person can read and understand music, for instance, doesn’t mean that the person can play the piano or any other instrument. It is the same with the skills of reading, math, and writing. Practice is necessary to become proficient.

As I have taught GED classes through the years, I have found that many students test higher in applied math than the actual computation. I tell them that I suspect they sat in class, listened to the teacher explain how to do problems, and then said, “I don’t have to do my homework. I understand that.” They usually look at me rather sheepishly and say, “You got that right. How did you know?” Such students indicate that they have the ability to understand but did not practice problems enough to be able to do them satisfactorily.

Some children do well in early grades and don’t do homework, then find out later on that some subjects, such as algebra, require constant homework. Unfortunately, since they didn’t do homework early on, they haven’t really learned good study habits and self-discipline to buckle down and do what they need to do. It is important to have a set time even in the lower grades to make homework a habit. If homework is not assigned, the parents need to come up with things the children can do to add to what they are learning in school. For instance, if the children are learning about conservation, they might require them to look at or read something from the Missouri Conservation magazine. They can check the library for more information or take a walk with dad to see examples of good and bad conservation.

Some may think that their children don’t need to do any homework since they finish quickly at school. We should never let our children think that they are smarter than others and that they don’t need to learn more than they already know. There is always plenty more to be learned about every subject. Parents are teachers, too, and parents need to help children develop a curiosity for learning by making suggestions or finding projects for the children to do to enrich what they have already learned.

We learn a great deal about our children as they do homework

Perhaps we learn even more than any report card can show. We can assess how the child reasons, the interests of the child, and become closer to the child. Homework can be a wonderful together time and learning time for both parents and children.

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Train up a child…

Time for a Kid Checkup

We check and winterize our boats. We take our cars in for an oil change and checkup. We go to the doctor to get a checkup. Do we ever just take the time to do a checkup on our kids to see how they are doing?
Now that school has been in session for a few weeks, we need to check our kids to see if they are getting off to a good start. Maybe a little course correction is needed. What are some of the things we should look for and check periodically in an evaluation of how our kids are doing? Here are some suggestions:
Do our children have a good attitude toward learning? Do they understand that education is necessary?
Are our children talking about their teacher in a respectful manner?
Are our children obeying?
Are our children doing their homework?
Are the children following a routine that includes work chores?
Do the children understand the work they are being required to do? If not, are we providing the help they need?
What kind of attitude do our children have toward the other children around them?
Do the children display good manners by being kind and considerate to others?
Are our children eating properly and getting good nutrition?
Are the children brushing their teeth and bathing regularly?
Do the children say their prayers each night?
Do the children have an attitude of compassion toward other people?
Are the children learning basic math skills? (Fourth grade and above should know their multiplication tables.)
Are the children reading at grade level?
Are the children dressing appropriately?
Do the children feel at ease to discuss any topic with mom and dad?
Are the children getting along alright at church?
Are the children getting enough physical exercise?

Of course, the purpose of any checkup is to correct whatever needs to be corrected. If anyone can go through this list and say that their children need no correcting, they are either fooling themselves or in denial. There is no perfect child! We need to understand that evaluating our children doesn’t mean that we start getting upset with them if they need to improve in any areas. The checking up is for parents as well as children to help determine what parents need to do to help the child. Simply telling a child that he/she needs to improve is not going to accomplish the needed improvement. Telling is not teaching! Growth in a child comes from the inside of that child. We, as parents and grandparents, design methods to help that child determine for self how to accomplish needed changes or improvements.