I is for Independence…
One of the things we have been working on in our homeschool is independence. I am a strong believer of independent learning. While I am there to help and assist as needed, I think that real learning comes when a child learns how to learn on their own. It isn’t something that can be taught from a book. It is something that they must learn on their own, with a little encouragement from Mom.
For our homeschool, I am responsible for planning and organizing our lessons. I schedule the work that needs to be done and then it is up to my son to complete it. I expect him to follow whatever directions I may have left for him. He is fully aware that I am available when he actually needs my help with something. I am always here to discuss and help explain something. There are some directions that say he must include me as I want to have fun as well. But overall, it is up to him to complete his daily work. He knows that once he is done, that he is free to do the things he wants to do. And he has learned that it is much better to do the work correctly the first time as I will hand it back and add more work to it.
So how has this taught him to be independent? This last year there were some times that I was sick and wasn’t able to get things prepared for him in time. He took it upon himself to do his schoolwork independently. He would complete the next chapter or assignment in his textbooks. He worked independently until I was able to assist him.
I think his independence will make our high school years just a bit nicer and help him to prepare for college or whatever he wants to do in his life. I is for Independence…
