Learning about responsibility
The thing I've learned about home schooling is that it is alot different to traditional educational models. Education is about teaching kids not just reading and writing but also all those skills in between like one of my favourite, cooking!
Life skills are also a big part of it, I find traditional education doesn't teach kids about life skills or responsibilities outside of work deadlines and one of my previous posts I talked about how education was designed to create the perfect "worker" someone who could go to work and do as their told for 8+ hrs a day and not talk back.
But home education is alot more it incorporates fun into every day tasks which school won't teach you.
One of those skills is cleaning up! And I have to be honest it is one that I have been struggling with and to put the answer why into the words of little miss "but cleaning up is boooooooooring working from home and lock downs increases the challenges in trying to maintain a balanced life and cleaning up is one that is even harder. So many people in the same space makes everything challenging.
But it is one that I constantly try and reinforce with little miss she's been great at some of the cleaning chores and please, I don't make her clean up the mess but rather do it with her. Well typically it's me that does the brunt of it but it's about showing her the process.
It's also about setting certain expectations and giving responsibility to and autonomy to kids so that they can learn about having fun and doing all the things they love but at the end of it they need to be prepared to clean up after themselves to ensure a tidy and safe space for everyone.
At current little miss loves doing dishes and enjoys splashing about in the kitchen sink, I end up with more water on the floor than I'd like but it is a learning process which then also shows us that splashing water has consequences and now we need to get a towl to mop it up otherwise someone will slip and fall. That someone tends to be little miss who will come in later and fall. To which I typically respond "see, that's why it is important to clean up after yourself"
Tonight we were cleaning up the kitchen table after dinner and our table is made of glass, If I could make a request it would be don't get a glass table they are scary once you have kids.
While cleaning up we incorporated a bit of fun into the mix to make the process easier and distracts us from the chore at hand. Little miss stood on one side of the table and I on the other and we played a bit of sponge ice hockey.
The winner was the one that could get their side cleaner than the other first. Each player had 5 seconds to scrape away at the mess and then flick the sponge across fast trying to also score a goal.
We ended up with a shiny glass table that took 45 minutes to clean because instead of cleaning we turned a chore into a game!
What are some of the ways you've brought fun into education and what do you find works best?
My son and I once played with a banana leaf. My son wrote his name using the leaf's nectar while I am holding the other end of the banana leaf. It brought so much fun for him and he was amazed as to how he was able to write his name using a leaf (on a black surface). It works best when we say to him that he has a snack waiting for him after his lesson.
That would be an awesome way to learn and there is a yummy snack at the end of it! My kids love bananas. They're probably the fruit that gets eaten really fast at home
Same with my son, he also loves bananas. It is a good thing banana is a super food so I am happily letting him eat whenever he wants.
I like that. I know things in are tough, but I'm biased by seeing the hidden blessings in the chaos. I pray the same blessings on you. !LUV !PIZZA
<><
@melbourneswest, you've been given LUV from @dreamingirwin.
Check the LUV in your H-E wallet. (9/10)
@melbourneswest! I sent you a slice of $PIZZA on behalf of @dreamingirwin.
Learn more about $PIZZA Token at hive.pizza (7/20)
!PIZZA
@dreamingirwin! I sent you a slice of $PIZZA on behalf of @melbourneswest.
Learn more about $PIZZA Token at hive.pizza (1/10)
I have always considered that it is a great way to teach responsibility to give our children small tasks at home, those responsibilities that according to their possibilities they are able to handle make them understand how important it is to share the responsibility of taking care of the home and doing things by ourselves. Thank you for sharing.
Educating in shared responsibility is not an easy task, however, as parents we must guide our children in the collaboration of work at home and in the development of assuming responsibility in household chores because it is a place where we coexist as a community. It is at home and precisely in those simple and small tasks where our children learn to assume that each one has an important role in maintaining the balance of our shared space. Excellent thanks for sharing.
I've featured your post in the @HomeEdders weekly curation.
Curated by @minismallholding on behalf of @HomeEdders.
Supporting home education and educational content. If you're a home educator, home educated or are thinking about home education, find out what we're about HERE.
You can join the community by clicking the subscribe button on Hive or Peakd.
please feel free to join us on discord.