Parents as First Teachers (Final Part)

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I want to thank you all for following me on the topic from the beginning. I planned just to pick out the salient points but I couldn’t just help but go into details. Thank you for following up. I received some comments and the page views also shows that the topic received a measurable read.

Now to business. We have discussed at length what it takes to know your children but there is this thing you also need to know about them. It is how they learn through their senses. Some learn by seeing, some by hearing and some by touching. Our kids learn best by using any of their senses. Some children learn better when what they read is also followed by visuals, pictures. Some of them will prefer to be instructed on what to do through reading, some will want you to say it, they want to hear you, while some won’t learn if they haven’t touched, that is, hand activities. So, you parents need to study your children to ascertain which they learn best with.

You will have to provide your children with the opportunities to learn with all the senses. Don’t restrict them to learning by vision and memorizing. Don’t tell them they can’t learn better with one sense or the other.

Now you need to start visualizing what your child(ren) should be able to have learnt in a given period of time and you have to provide an enabling environment to help them get there.

Here is a sample of a parent’s vision for her Three-year-old child.

“Before my son is five, he should have known about so many things. He should have a measurable amount of ideas about issues and will be able to express himself on such issues. He will be bold enough to ask questions when he is in doubt. He will be respectful and treat others with care. He will be very comfortable speaking English which is the dominant language in our home”

This is a parent’s vision for his child. You should have yours based on your knowledge about your child’s learning pattern as we have shown from the beginning of this topic. It is very wise to have this because it will be like a set goal that will guide you in your children’s process of learning. Imagine a football game without a goal post, the players will just run and run with no course.

You can start over from the part 1 of this topic to the last part. So that you can learn more about how your children learn. Read more articles, make researches, read books, watch informational TV programs. Grab any opportunity to get involved in your child(ren)’s learning process. Build in them a love for learning and most importantly, provide them an environment/atmosphere conducive for learning.

I am so grateful for your audience. But lastly, there is a questionnaire that I will design to help you assess yourself as to how well you are performing as first teachers.

Here is an opportunity to support jimmyedu101.blogspot.com The questionnaire might not be made public but on request.

Just send me an email and I will forward it to you. jimmy.pelemoh@gmail.com

Thanks.