Inclusive Homeschool

That seems obvious, but then many mistakes are.

The blame game is really big among humans. As soon as we became evolved enough to take responsibility, we became crafty enough to dodge it. Kids are the easiest to blame, because they are unable to defend themselves. Lots of times they don’t know what the rules are or how things should work, so they’re not able to articulate when rules are broken or a situation is improper.

The bottom line is this: If you aren’t going to take the time to be consistent and disciplined in being there for your child, in teaching them - in whatever way that means to you and works for the kid - then don’t get pissed when they don’t measure up to where you think they ought to be.

It’s not only not fair, it’s abusive.

Discipline and Commitment

Homeschooling your child takes a lot of work. It requires discipline and commitment. It requires being willing to find what works for your child and often that means first finding out what doesn’t.

It means being observant and adventurous. It involves creativity and effort and calls for mindfulness. And it requires that you actually teach.

What really blows my mind is when parents who neglect to teach the child or provide other opportunities for the child to learn certain skills or obtain whatever knowledge the parent deems important, berate them as if the fault or deficiency were the child’s and not their own.

Don’t Compare
If you aren’t going to take the time to teach, then don’t berate the kid for not knowing what you’re not teaching!

Don’t compare them to what younger kids are doing or what earlier grades already know. Aside from the fact that if you’re using public school as a standard, you’re probably overestimating what they’re actually learning (stuff retained after Friday quiz or State testing), its just plain mean.

Shaming people may be a nice release for anger, but it hardly inspires anyone to increase in self confidence.

What You Teach
And if you’re going to teach it, then teach it. That doesn’t necessarily mean a chalkboard and lectern. It means provide and reinforce a topic in a way that is meaningful to the child with mindfulness as to where it fits in relation to other topics and within context. To expect better “results” for less or no effort teaches the child only two things.

Injustice and resentment. After all, that’s what is really being taught.

Tags: abuse, blaming, consistency, injustice, resentment, teaching