Fun in learning

Childhood experience

Having grown up in a country where capital punishment was expected in schools and at home, it has taken me a long time to view learning as an activity that should be enjoyed by children. At my high school the teachers would actually hit children on their bottoms with a gas pipe for not understanding a concept. This instilled fear each time I was in a situation whereby I did not get understand what I was being taught.

As children grow they are always wondering about the world and are always asking questions, looking back at my childhood, at times when you have a question, you become afraid to ask your parents as they would say ‘stop asking silly questions’. Now I realise that as parents, we do not always have answers to the questions our children have, my parents did not want us to know that they did not know all the answers, therefore they resorted to blocking us from asking questions. Instead of giving answers such as, I am not sure, we can find out together or we can ask your teacher about this, they chose to act like you are being silly or naughty for asking such questions.

Parenting experience

When My older daughter was doing her GCSEs I tried teaching her mathematics as this was a challenging subject for her and I found myself losing my temper as I did not understand how she did not understand the concepts at all. I felt like she was not taking me seriously. I then spoke to a friend of mine who has a teaching background and she pointed out that children learn in different ways in different subjects, and the professionals who understand the concepts of teaching are the best people to help with my daughter with her mathematics. I then realised that in mainstream school, her teacher has a lot of pupils to teach and it would be difficult for the teacher to give my daughter the attention she requires for her to grasp the concepts. So my husband and I decided to get her a one to one tutor. The tutor we found was a former lecturer in mathematics and made my daughter enjoy the subject so much and she passed her GCSE mathematics. This made me realise that learning has to be fun and the right teacher can take away fear of learning in your child.

Learn together with your children

Because our parents wanted to be seen as these all knowing adults, they never wanted their children to believe that there were certain things that other people could answer for them. I dread to imagine if our parents had been put in a position to home school us, that would have been the death of all the children. Worse without the internet to assist them to find answers, that would be have been a challenge.

Take every opportunity to learn with your children, if they ask questions that you are unable to answer, discuss with them the ways and means to come up with the answer. Find resources that your child can use to come to the answer the question. At times even friends and family who may be experts in that subject. I know the internet is at the tip of our fingers nowadays, but we can also encourage our children to use even books from the local library instead of always looking on the internet. This helps them to integrate knowledge from different resources. Learning and discovering with your child does not make you any less of an adult, but it also helps you to bond with your child/children as you learn new things together. Never Judge your children if they ask questions that you make feel ignorant, instead encourage them to continue to ask questions and to find answers in a calm constructive manner.

Passive learning can help

Engage children in activities that help them to learn without them knowing that they are learning, With my little one, we sometimes bake and in the process I make her do the measuring of the cups of flour required or when we use the scales she reads the Kgs on the scale and decides if there is enough. This has made her practice her numbers without thinking is learning. She is also learning to write her name so for each picture I get her to write her name and surname at the top of the page. The new way of learning the alphabet is now using phonics, as opposed to ABCD, try and learn the new ways that you children are being taught as this will help you to find opportunities for them to enhance their knowledge.

We have also used flash cards and also posters on the wall, so your child can be constantly reminded of the concepts and this way learn constantly.

Games can also help with the process of learning without the child feeling the pressure of needing to understand the concept. Snakes and ladders is one were the little ones can also recognise numbers and also counting the dots on the dice.

At times where possible, creating songs that you and your child can sing and have a laugh about without worrying about the tune. You can also explore songs on the internet and use them to help your child with learning too.

Tailoring learning around the child’s individual needs eg environment changing topics to surround the child’s interest eg educational games can be frozen themed, maths minions, etc…

Rewarding your child

Always remember to praise your child, not only for results but also for the effort they put towards learning a concept. The growth mindset is one concept that has been proven to assist children in learning. This helps parents and children understand success comes with a bit of failure along the way. However the failure is used as a learning curve towards success. By praising your child for any effort made, this helps them to continue to try even harder. Some children require an immediate result from their learning and the praise is highly motivating for some and will encourage more active engagement. eg, sticker rewards charts.

How have you coped with overcoming the fear of getting things wrong, how have you managed to teach your children without being overwhelmed by the new ways of learning. Please feel free to add your views and experiences to the comments section, and do not forget to subscribe so that you do not miss any articles released in the future.