I’d like to talk about true education.
Not stuffing information into a student for regurgitation on a test, then forgetting it ever happened.
Every person on earth has a passion. Everyone has a God-given dream.
When we become adults, we have the freedom to pursue our talents, dreams, and passions. We have access to classes, libraries, and people who are working where we want to be.
We have the ability to change course, change jobs, move locations, or learn a new skill set.
Now think of the walls and restrictions we put on children in an educational setting. You can only learn this science. You can only read this book. You can only study this history.
What if they have a keen interest in a specific subject? What if science covered penguins, but penguin study only lasted 1 day? Now they must move on.
As homeschoolers, we allow children to pursue their passions. My eldest went through a train phase. He read all the books about trains. He asked for model trains for birthdays and Christmas. We took a family vacation on Amtrak. He learned all the vocabulary and lingo of trains. He learned about the history of trains.
My middle loved to study wars. One day my husband walked in and saw Owen reading a book around 10 am. My husband fussed and asked why he wasn’t doing schoolwork.
I told him to ask what he was reading. The answer? The Battle of Bunker Hill. He was 3rd grade at the time.
My youngest loves all things animal related. She knows how to read veterinary labels, draw up and administer basic medication, care for horses, cattle, goats, pigs, and just about any other animal. She has plans to go to veterinary technician school her junior and senior years of high school as a dual enrollment student. That way she can work her way through veterinary school.
Unit studies are truly the best way for anyone to learn. When you are passionate about the subject matter, learning is enjoyable and a source of pleasure.
What if your horse loving child learned to read using horse books? Did math based on farm chores and calculations of grass seed to plant? Science can be equine anatomy & physiology along with botany (have to have hay and feed and grass).
What if your mechanically inclined child could build towers and run electricity to them? What if measuring and calculating area and linear feet was the math? What if reading was relevant magazines and research articles?
Those are things your child would love to learn. Those are things that light a fire of passion and create an eagerness to learn and read and research.
Our responsibility is to inspire the love of learning and helping others. We should teach children to be better humans, not cram “worthless” information down their throats.
When I was in high school, I took physics. I thought it was pointless. I didn’t care about cars and speed limits. When I went to college, I thought physics was even more pointless. Electricity? What did that have to do with veterinary medicine?
Then I met an extremely gifted equine professor. He studied equine feet angles and laminitis treatments. He explained that tendons and horse legs are all about physics.
I was immediately interested in physics! Vectors and forces finally made sense. Only because it was presented in a format that mattered to me.
All learning should be presented in the best possible way to make it relevant to the student. Education has become a necessary evil to children and many can’t wait to run away from formal education.
We have a responsibility to light the fire of learning and desire to become more educated every single day.
Happy Homeschooling!
Dr Vet Sonya 