Technology is a wonderful thing. It connects us in so many ways. In the last 20 years it has changed our lives in ways we would have never imagined.
My children and probably your children have grown up with technology, they have had the internet most of their lives and most likely can work your iPhone better than you. I’d like to think that we were all able to learn back in the day even with the lack of technology. So let’s all take a step back and discuss 4 teachings at home activities, no Wi-Fi required.
Reading
This will forever and always be the number one most important educational skill ever. Reading is so important, not just for comprehending but for cognitive, social and emotional development skills.
Teaching Reading at home
With your child choose a book to read. As you read ask your child questions about what’s going on in the story and the main characters. Ask questions like “How does the main character feel or what does he need” or “where does the story take place?”. After you read the book have your child summarize or retell you the story. If they get stuck help them by looking back in the story for the answer. This is not a test or a quiz, you want to keep this activity as low stress as possible. As your child gets better at these skills you can move on to more complicated ones like problem and solution.
STEM
STEM stands for Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics. We live in a world of technology and that is not changing or slowing down.
According to eschholnews.com there are nearly 8.4 million jobs in stem and 2.4 million of them will go unfilled. This is why it is so important for your child to be exposed to STEM.
Teaching STEM at home?
Science is all about trial and error. Build something, for example, build a tower out of cardboard. As you build, your tower gets too heavy and falls over. With your child discuss why you think that happened. How can you change your tower to keep it from falling over? This does not need to be technical and you don’t have to use any fancy scientific language. With STEM, just as with reading, creating experiences is the key.
Writing
I have boys and they sure hate to write, but it is an important skill, sure it helps with penmanship and grammar but those are not writings most important skills. Writing helps to develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills. These skills transfer into life skills that are essential in adulthood.
Teaching Writing at home?
Again, as low stress as possible. As I said my boys really hate to write. One activity we do is to make up a story. Some one kid comes up with a topic and we all add one line to the story until it’s done or until we feel it is done. For example, I may say” Once Upon a time in a faraway place” Then one of the boys will come up with the next line. “There was a two head sloth who was lonely”, and the story goes on from there.
Do you remember those questions from the reading section above? This is where you will see your child begin to use those skills almost organically. Your child may begin telling you the setting and details about the main characters. If they don’t help them by asking, “Where does he live?” and “Why is he lonely?”Help your child, by making sure your story has a beginning, middle, and end.
With my boys we don’t always write the stories down sometimes we just say them out loud and other times I write them down as we go. If your child is willing to write down the story, stress-free of course, by all means, let them. You can try these free graphic organizers to help your child organize their writing.
Math
One of the most useful ways to teach math at home is through experiences. Math’s most important skill is number sense. Number sense is the understanding of the relationship of numbers and how the value of a number affects its relationship with other numbers. It like saying 2+2 is 4 but 1+1+1+1 is also 4, so you get the same answer but the values are manipulated in different ways. Number sense is the foundation for all other math skills.
Teaching Math at home?
One way we do this at our house is by cooking. I let the boys collect all the ingredients and measure each ingredient out then we go step by step reading the instructions. This works best when I watch and the boys work out the recipe on their own, as I supervise. Sometimes they mess up the recipes by putting in too much or not enough of something. When they make mistakes, this is where those problem-solving skills we discussed in the writing section come into play. They discuss what to do and eventually they figure it out.
Another way is by building something. Using a measuring tape, drawing out a diagram of what your building, making a list of materials these are all math skills and ironically STEM skills. Unfortunately, I don’t really possess those kinds of skills, but my husband is pretty handy, and he takes over that part. Whether you cook with them or build with them they are acquiring the same number sense skills. Check out this touch math freebie, that is great for teaching number sense.
Teaching at Home Recap
- Reading is the most important skill ever!
- STEM is dominating the world, make sure your child is exposed to it.
- Writing helps develop problem solving skills that transfer into life skills
- Math number sense building block of all math skills
Would all these activities be enriched by using technology, yes. But know that teaching at home the “old school” way still works. Learning can happen in any setting, not just at school, not just online. As parents, we have to remember that and do our best to expose our children to as many learning experiences as possible.
