It really made me think about all the learning opportunities we have with our children each and every day.
I often read posts cutting up the current education system in the US. Well I am from Canada and our system is a little bit better but still has many of the same institutional problems. In my opinion our current school system isn't designed to supply complete education to our children. It is just part of the large puzzle. In fact, I often feel it is half daycare to allow the adults in our society the ability to head out to work. So if it is only one part of the puzzle, then what are the other parts you might ask? Well as a parent it is our responsibility to supply the other pieces.
Here are a few things one can do to help your children gain a complete education:
Encourage reading at home
This one sounds like a lot of work but is actually very simple. At a young age make sure you expose them to the Alphabet. Everyone knows the song so make it part of your day. We had great success with a LeapFrog movie called "The Letter Factory". It has an alphabet song that teaches kids the sound each letter makes in a fun way. I highly recommend it. At every age be consistent reading a book every night before bed. This not only creates a bedtime routine, it helps them relax and wind down. If they cant read yet, you read to them and ensure you use your finger to follow along the words. This will expose them to the left to right, top to bottom path we read. As they get a bit older start making them read out single words on a page. "Up" was the first word that Luke was able to read.
Counting and Saving Money
Fellow Steemparent @breakthrough has a great post about "Teaching your kids financial literacy". There are many ways to work on this with your kids. Even just giving them $5 when you go to the store and letting them figure out what they can buy. A popular way to teach kids money skills is with an allowance. We have two piggy banks for Luke and he has to put half and any money he gets into his "savings" one. The other one is his spending. As soon as he knew he had to spend his own money to by "toys", he started thinking differently about what he wanted. He would ask question like "how much money do I have" and "How much would I have left?".
Once they start to understand the value of money, you can start explaining how much other things cost such as groceries and Mcdonalds lunch. They can now compare this to something that they know and realize that it may not be cheap.
Sports
Entering our children into group sports or individual sports is a great way to help them learn and succeed. They learn about rules, the consequences of making mistakes, depending on others help, and how to deal with success and failure. A sports team in many ways is like a workplace. Your Boss is the referee, your Manager is the Coach and your co-workers are your team mates. You cant be scared to "pass the puck" to one of your coworkers if you need some help. You need to learn to trust that they are going to do the best thing for your "team".
Being able to deal with stressful situations and time restraints is one of the many lessons that can be learned by playing sports. When it is crunch time you need to have that extra focus and second wind to be able to push through. You don't
Team sports is also a great opportunity for kids to meet and mingle with others who are outside of their core group of school friends.
Conclusion
These are by far only a few small examples of chances to turn life into learning. There are many opportunities every day to use as a chance for education. Far too often people rely of the education system to do it all when in reality it is just an aid. I encourage you to look for your own opportunities and make the most out of them.
Darryl (@dadview) is a loving husband and father who enjoys spending time with his family no matter the activity. He is an active member of steemparents and teamcanada Check out one of my Recent Blogs
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Learning Opportunities Aren't Just at School | Ecency
@solarsupermama called What is education anyway?
