ABC's of Homeschooling C for . . .

My word this week is Creativity.

According to the dictionary being creative is "being skillful at using your imagination and thinking of new ideas." In other words, it's about making things, solving problems,  and exploring ideas. Creativity challenges us as human being, as we have to use our brains in different ways and make connections.

I do not know about you, but this is not my strongest skill. I am not a very creative person but homeschooling has certainly helped me develop that part of my brain. I find that as homeschoolers we often have to come up with ways to teach things better to our children. We often have to play aroud curriculum, find new manipulatives, and ways to practice, let's say, math facts and spelling and grammar etc...  This has been a challenging part of homeschooling, but also a rewarding one, as I see my efforts ussually paying off with them being excited about something or learning something better. Sometimes, it does not work out, but at least I know I tried.

Another way in which creativity is seen in homeschooling, and probably one of the greatest benefit of homeschooling, is the ability to see your child's creativity blossom and being expressed. The words "I have an idea."  often come from the month of my 2 boys, and I love to hear it. I love to see my boys' creations, whether with blocks, in an art or craft project, in a science experiment, or even in a new way of doing a math problem. It is all over the house. The way my oldest makes up his own city and fills it with things as he learn more things in school or in life, is amazing (it's all in his head but he always talks about it).

I will venture and say that in school the opportunities for one's creativity are not as prevalent. In school you have to follow and stay with the plan and the program, which I think would not be too conducive for  fostering creativity. There is not much time for creative thinking and actual, physical exploration.

I have a very "outside the box thinker" and a very "mom, look at what I have made!" children, and I have to make sure they get plenty of time to explore their ideas and do lots of self-directed learning, otherwise I would be homeschooling walls. I believe in Classical eduction (another C -word), so lots of our school is teaching the boys to be rigorous in the humanities and languages, but I also believe that children learn best when prompted by their own minds. So, I try to do my best to give them a balance of the two.

For more C words make sure to go over to 5 Kids and a Dog.