Excellence!

     I love to learn! I love to learn and I wasn't homeschooled! I had those rigorous textbooks that reviewed some of the same things every year. The ones I can't hardly remember anything from except the basics I now take for granted. Yet I got excited every year when it was time to get new school supplies. I loved to have new books, new subjects, a new grade, and sometimes a new teacher. I still love all those things. (except it seems I'm always the teacher. :O)

  So what does that have to do with excellence? Because people who love to learn wouldn't except anything less. That is of course my opinion. But why would I go away from the table hungry or empty handed? Why would I except half- hearted work if that is not the best the child can do. (and maybe truly not even average work they could do) What if Einstein, Edison or Newton or Pasteur would have quit learning because it wasn't fun anymore? No, they pressed for excellence. There was more to be learned once that topic was conquered. More ...But how do you get more sitting there amusing yourself all the time? Did it take work to do physics, biology, music, medicine...

  There is an underline thought within homeschoolers that to love to learn it must always be fun. There is a place and time for fun. It would be a shame for the younger years to be zapped away without introducing all the wonderful things that can be taught at this age thru hands on activities. This should be fun and educational. But when do parents move on from just fun educational to teaching them how to "fish" for themselves? Is that not one of the goals- to teach them to love to learn? When do we as parents stop spoon feeding them so they can reach out with their own hands and be able to dive into the world of knowledge? And how do we do that transition? I think this is where we as parents get confused.

 " So how do you do that?" you might ask. You do it by doing the work involved in learning the subject. Not you but the person who is learning it. Now you as the teacher have a great task in picking out the material that will facilitate the child to work more productively because lets face it, not every book matches all people. But you do have the opportunity to select from what's out there to fit your child and implement it into his learning plan for the year. Then you have another great task ahead - To enforce that plan and encourage him or her to keep at it. 

Excellence! Do you strive for it? Do you expect it? Should you? I love learning and can't imagine not pressing toward it. -Not if you truly love to learn.