Independence, part 1
Fifth grade is a pivotal year. When your child finishes fifth grade he will be a middle school student. What does that mean for you? Well, to begin with, your fifth grader should be working more independently. As a homeschooler it is important that your child meets this benchmark. The question is, how do you measure that independence? And how do you teach independence? If you are like many parents, you are worried that your child is growing up too fast. It is important to balance the independence you want to foster with responsibility. The year surrounding the fifth grade is a time when you will see a lot of changes in your child, physically, emotionally, and developmentally.
Fifth grade is a year for homeschoolers that marks the end of elementary and the beginning of the middle school years. Up until now, many home schooling parents have been right there with the child, instructing, directing and guiding every step of the learning process. This year is the time for the parent/teacher to start allowing the child to do some of the work on their own. Make an assignment, even if a small one, and allow the student to work at their own pace, with gentle reminders to stay on task if necessary. Do not totally disengage from the teaching process, however. Remember that your child is learning greater independence but has not yet mastered it. Another thing that allowing your child to do the assignment at his own pace will help with is time management. Present the amount of time allowed for the assignment at the same time as you present the content of the assignment. Allow the student to set a timer. Be generous with the time to begin with, because children must learn time management, it is not something that is natural to them. When the time is up, then have them stop the assignment. If it is not complete that is alright. Part of becoming independent is also learning that there are consequences to actions.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Art, part 2
Art, part 2
One could argue that art and music are worth studying because of the beauty they bring to life. When time and funds are limited more justification for studying them might be needed. Let’s look at some of the skills taught in art and music. These are in no particular order.
A big item on that list of skills taught in art and music is perseverance. The first time a student draws a picture, it is rarely correct. The shape may be off or the color. Sometimes it just doesn’t look right. And so the student draws it again, improving on the outcome. The first dragon my fifth grader drew was barely recognizable. She decided the head was too big, the wings were not in the right proportion, the tail too short. But she continued to draw them, learning more about perspective, shading, proportion, and color. She persevered. And her dragons are pretty incredible now. As part of that perseverance she learned some other valuable skills as well. Among those skills were self-criticism, perspective, and prioritization.
We can look at those for a moment. Self-criticism, this is an ability to look at one’s own work, see it’s flaws, and explore how to improve on those flaws. In being able to be self-critical, students learn to be less sensitive to criticism by others. Perspective is another valuable skill. In a class of art students, sitting around a bowl of fruit, drawing what they see, each will have a different view point. This is important not only in art but in life. And finally, prioritization. The ability to put things in order of importance serves the student not only in the composition of a picture, or the understanding of a piece of music played by an orchestra. It helps them make judgements in other subjects and in life.
The study of art and music can be presented to a student in two different modes. They can be taught with an eye (or ear) to performance. For visual arts, this would be learning and employing the techniques to draw, or paint, or sculpt. For music, this would be actually learning to play an instrument, and the study of music theory. The arts can also be taught with appreciation in mind. In studying the Masters in art, the student can gain not only an understanding of the artist’s viewpoint, but also place those artists in historical perspective. By listening to and studying great composers of music, the student learns to appreciate tone, pitch, rhythm, and flow. In the process of studying art and music, from either perspective, the student gets to see beauty and hear it. Surely there is room in your homeschooling curriculum for that!
One could argue that art and music are worth studying because of the beauty they bring to life. When time and funds are limited more justification for studying them might be needed. Let’s look at some of the skills taught in art and music. These are in no particular order.
A big item on that list of skills taught in art and music is perseverance. The first time a student draws a picture, it is rarely correct. The shape may be off or the color. Sometimes it just doesn’t look right. And so the student draws it again, improving on the outcome. The first dragon my fifth grader drew was barely recognizable. She decided the head was too big, the wings were not in the right proportion, the tail too short. But she continued to draw them, learning more about perspective, shading, proportion, and color. She persevered. And her dragons are pretty incredible now. As part of that perseverance she learned some other valuable skills as well. Among those skills were self-criticism, perspective, and prioritization.
We can look at those for a moment. Self-criticism, this is an ability to look at one’s own work, see it’s flaws, and explore how to improve on those flaws. In being able to be self-critical, students learn to be less sensitive to criticism by others. Perspective is another valuable skill. In a class of art students, sitting around a bowl of fruit, drawing what they see, each will have a different view point. This is important not only in art but in life. And finally, prioritization. The ability to put things in order of importance serves the student not only in the composition of a picture, or the understanding of a piece of music played by an orchestra. It helps them make judgements in other subjects and in life.
The study of art and music can be presented to a student in two different modes. They can be taught with an eye (or ear) to performance. For visual arts, this would be learning and employing the techniques to draw, or paint, or sculpt. For music, this would be actually learning to play an instrument, and the study of music theory. The arts can also be taught with appreciation in mind. In studying the Masters in art, the student can gain not only an understanding of the artist’s viewpoint, but also place those artists in historical perspective. By listening to and studying great composers of music, the student learns to appreciate tone, pitch, rhythm, and flow. In the process of studying art and music, from either perspective, the student gets to see beauty and hear it. Surely there is room in your homeschooling curriculum for that!
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