By Amanda van der Gulik
Do you find that you learn so much more from your children then they ever learn from you? I do.
I absolutely love homeschooling my two kiddos but I have to tell you, some days I wonder who is learning more—them or me?
Take spelling lessons for example. I was not homeschooled; I went to a public school. I learned my spelling rules from a teacher whom I didn’t want to upset. I simply memorized what I could, to get a passing grade, without thinking too much about what the lessons were really about. We would be asked to repeatedly write the same words over and over again until we had their correct spelling completely memorized, but rarely were we ever asked to question why a word was spelled a certain way.
I have always encouraged my children to ask questions, to make sure that they fully understand why things are a certain way. This often leads to me having to become the student once again. In order to explain why a word is spelled a specific way, I find myself having to either come up with a logical reason myself or actually having to look up the answer. Doing this has made me better understand the structure of our English language, and it’s helped me to truly appreciate how difficult and inconsistent a language it is to learn.
The same is true for any subject, don’t you find? As we take the time to teach our children about a particular subject, we end up learning more about that subject than we had before. Teaching, therefore, is really about further learning opportunities. By being a good teacher we, in fact, become a greater student.
We can use this to our own benefit. We can teach the subjects to our children that we really want to learn more about ourselves. Take money for example. How many of us are struggling each and every day with money issues? Too many bills, not enough income, right?
Were you fortunate enough as a child to learn about money in such a way that you now have complete and utter control over your finances? Are you the boss of your money or is your money the boss of you? What do you want for your child? Would you like them to be money savvy? To have financial freedom? What if by teaching your child about money you actually became smarter with your own money? How wonderful would that be?
Well, that’s what I’ve noticed personally with my own children. Each time I teach them another money lesson, I find myself learning more and more. It’s fabulous! How cool is it that as I teach my children to be in control of their money I actually end up in more control of my own? As I teach my children how to create passive recurring income through creating books and videos, etc., I end up learning more about how to make my own books and videos successful.
The great part is that my kids get to see their mommy learning along with them. They get to see me fail and succeed. It makes me seem less like a god in their eyes and more human, more like them, more relatable to them. It builds a special bond of trust and support.
I absolutely love homeschooling my kiddos and, as I teach them the life lessons they will need to know in order to live a happy, successful adult life, I end up learning more myself to improve my own life. It’s an added bonus!
Here are some ways to get the most out of learning from your children as you homeschool them:
- Always ask for their input, their ideas, and thoughts, and be open with them.
- Encourage them to ask questions about why things are a certain way and help them to find the answers.
- Be truly engaged in the learning process.
- Allow yourself to be honest with your child. When you don’t know the answer, let them know and then learn it together.
- Choose subjects that you know you and your child can both benefit by learning, so you build both their and your life skills
- Ask your child to quiz you as well as you quizzing them on what you’ve both learned.
- Most of all take sincere pleasure in the learning, be the role model for your child.
Enjoy teaching your children … and remember to really enjoy learning from them!
Best-selling author, Amanda van der Gulik has been homeschooling her two children for over eleven years and is the founder of www.TeachingChildrenAboutMoney.com. Visit Amanda’s site today to grab your FREE copy of her eBook, “50 Money Making Ideas for Kids and Teens” or her “The 6 Magical Piggy Banks” cartoon.