Why We Should Let Children Discover Things in Their Own Way

I’ve heard many teachers describe how they need to be at the front and center of every class to direct and control the classroom so they stay on schedule with their lessons. This is a big reason why many adults have difficulty grasping how homeschoolers, and unschoolers in particular, don’t have to duplicate school practices in their homes. How can children learn if we adults aren’t showing them what to do, correct their mistakes, and test their understanding of what they learned? Just as children learning at home learn differently than in school, so can parents teach differently at home than in school.

One of the things parents can learn from their unschooling experience is how to be patient and observant instead of demanding and bossy as teachers, as Sharron Lerew describes here. (Originally printed in Growing Without Schooling 49).

LET THEM DISCOVER

Sharron Lerew ( PA ) wrote in her family's newsletter (see story elsewhere this issue):

... Lloyd and I took the "How To Listen So Your Kids Will Talk and Talk So Your Kids Will Listen" workshop last spring. One of the big revelations I got from that workshop was that when I notice that someone doesn’t understand something or is misinformed about something that it is not necessarily my responsibility to teach them or correct them; that if they eventually learn it themselves it will be theirs—not mine. 

A beautiful example of this happened during Jenny's pot-holder spurt. During the first few days she was making “random" pot-holders. I love patterns in everything and had a terrible time not hinting to her that something exciting would happen if she would put colors on the loom systematically. I resisted and about the third day she came up to me with the biggest smile and behind her back a patterned pot-holder. She was so thrilled. And she had discovered it herself! Of course after two days of her making that same pattern I was once again tempted to suggest that a different system would produce a different pattern. Luckily I'm learning to resist these temptations when I notice them …