7 Pillars of a Quality Education: Part Three

This is part three of a 7 part blog post series, taken from Joyce Burges’s book, “Teach Me How To Teach My Child”, available on Amazon.

Teach Your Children How To Think

When I was about three months into my home education experience, an older gentleman was observing my pedagogy and said to me, “Joyce, whatever you do, teach your children how to think.”  At first, this was strange to me.  But now I know what he meant. 

He encouraged me to allow them to make choices, when appropriate, for themselves.   Teaching them the art of thinking gave me the confidence to believe that they would choose the wise and refuse the unwise (and if they did choose the unwise, they would know how to seek help). 

 I remember one of my children in particular who, when she was younger, would ask, “Mama, what am I going to wear today?”  It would have been easy to make the choice for her; nonetheless, I wanted her to begin the process of choosing.  I would offer her two outfits and taught her to take into consideration the weather as well as the thought of our staying in the home the entire day.  Based upon those recommendations, an appropriate answer was given…the child had to choose for herself. 

This is a simple example, yet one that benefited this same child later during her college years.  It was suggested by her college advisors to select certain subjects for the next semester.  This young lady, now a little wiser, was able to critically think through the situation with good reasoning and logic.  “Do I really need this particular course, or would it really add to my credit, or how much study time will I have to give to this course in view of my other more important courses?”  After a long pause, she chose for herself and did not end up taking the well-meaning suggestions of the college advisor. 

Many students have graduated from college with courses that were not necessarily important for their completion.  This was one way this child learned to think independently of her peers. 

As parents, we feed the minds and spirits of each of our children.  And we have a short time to make lasting impressions upon their hearts.  We should not waste that time.  As my children have graduated from our homeschool, I have seen more and more clearly how very fast time goes by.