"I will be done with the term when our texts are done with pages." I do know homeschoolers who use this method. This was the method I used when I did classical style homeschooling. The problem with it is that it always puts pressure on the child to finish. Just as we are learning that it might not have been a good idea to tell children, "sit there until you finish everything on your plate, or no dessert!" it can also be detrimental to tell a child, "you don't get to have a break until we finish everything in this book!" It becomes punishing. Instead of focusing on learning, the child focuses on being done. Instead of enjoying what he learns, he focuses on finishing the requirement so that he can take a break and do the things he loves. Learning becomes work, something you do to reach the fun stuff, instead of being the fun stuff.
I always had a problem about wanting to finish our texts until a friend put it into perspective this way: How many textbooks did you finish at the end of the year when YOU were in school? Did you read through every page? Finish every exercise? Or did the teacher skip around and just cover whatever topics were considered most important? Did your texts pick up where you left off the following year? Or did they review concepts from the previous year before offering new topics? This is something to think about.
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1 comment:
I am glad to see you address this issue of "finishing". It feeds into perfectionism and explains why we obsess about being finished - in many different ways. One of my worst fears is dying before I am "finished". Is this left over from my school days? How freeing to think we are never finished - with learning or living - and that is OK. And as you point out, rushing through the text does not mean we "know" the material. Thank you for the insight. Love, Mom
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