Last Saturday, I got my own copy of Luanne Shackelford’s book “A Survivor’s Guide to Homeschooling”. Yes, I am a homeschool mom of almost 2 years now. I started homeschooling our eldest son last year for Grade 1. I have no idea what I got myself into really but as I always say, only by God’s grace can I survive this rollercoaster homeschool ride.
After spending the whole Saturday at the 3rd Homeschool Conference, my husband and I were sooo tired that I was not able to skim through the book that I bought. I only got the chance to read two days ago and I just can’t put it down. I probably covered about two thirds of the book when I read the topic on reading. The author suggested reading aloud to your children. I liked the idea so I tried it the next homeschool day. I read a story from his Reading textbook and I think reading aloud to him helped him process the story since he is an auditory learner. An auditory learner is one who enjoys learning by listening and talking. Other types of learners are visual learners who understand lessons better when they see things. And the other type is a kinesthetic learner who learns more by using his body or moves a lot. Anyway, I can expound on that some other time.
Going back to reading, the author also pointed out the negative effects of watching TV to would-be readers. When kids watch TV, their imagination is no longer tapped or stimulated since the pictures are already moving. They can already see the color, the shape or even how things move, or how things happen. Their thinking skills are no longer stimulated by the constant movement seen in the screen. She confessed that they don’t have a TV in their house. This was no longer new to me since I have heard of homeschooling families even in the Philippines don’t have TV sets at home.
Just imagine what my 7-year-old son had to do when school is done, yes, watch TV. He will glued to it the whole afternoon until early evening. This really bothers me a lot. So in my mind, as I was reading Ms. Shackelford’s book, I said I will try this no TV policy at home.
This morning while I was trying to help him out in his Language drills I find him having a hard time constructing sentences. He rarely has trouble with this since he loves to talk and would come up with really great and lengthy sentences. But this morning he seemed a little distracted. Then for a moment, I think I saw him giggle.
Then I looked again, he was in fact giggling and trying to hide it from me. Suddenly, the horns on my head started to come out and I called his attention. He was giggling because he remembered the funny show he saw the other day. That irked the mama duck! I told him no TV until I say so. When he is done with school, he can either play with his lego, draw or play with his sister but no TV.
He agreed. He survived the morning and afternoon without TV. He just asked me to turn on the radio so he can have some music, the auditory learner kicking in. He had snack around 5pm and he asked me if he could watch, so I allowed him and congratulated him for a job well done. He was proud of himself too and said he will do it again tomorrow. We even talked about reading aloud again after school without TV.
Thank you Lord for the wisdom you have given me. Thank you also for the book you have allowed me to read to better teach my son to love learning.
