By Terrie Runolfson

 I am a believer of home education, no matter whether you educate at home full time or supplement the school; we should be reminded that we are all educators in the world and we are all students of the world.  Children/people love to learn and we all continue to do so through out our lives- learning never stops.  Most of us learn things one way…that is by doing it, on the job training so-to-speak. 

 Parents should never assume that children are getting all the education they need at school.  This is far from the truth.  They may be learning lots of things about socialism and how to follow directions, but they are not in an environment where they can ask questions or be curious about something or try failed projects over and over again.  Failure is final at school, but at home you can keep trying until you succeed.  The scary part of children at school  is that us parents never are quite sure what our children have failed at until the end of the semester and at that point time has ran out and off we move to the next semester.

 Learning is a life time process and setting goals is very much a part of that learning process.  Set goals and make a plan for your learning process and provide a productive purpose. Especially for children, learning with a purpose makes learning more meaningful. Children are so willing and ready to absorb and soak up all that interest them, and they will do this from morning until they drop into bed at night. They are able to gain knowledge on a variety of subjects and kids pick up on things much faster than us mature adults.  Take advantage of this and give them all you can.   Children will soon start feeling the success of their education and start taking the responsibility upon themselves to learn.

 To help your children learn in a fun way, start by identifying your child’s interests; provide him/her with experiences relating to those interests and conduct one-on-one teaching moments.  Exposing children to different experiences will also widen the child’s area’s of interest.  Introduce your child to many things about the earth, science, talents, technology, religion, cultures, and different job careers etc. As the child matures it will be easier for them to hone in on a career path when the time comes.

 Seek learning out in the world. If the child is small go out on nature walks, make a nature scrapbook or keep a nature journal. Let them play and discover their world.  Take samples of leaves, pinecones, rocks and fossils back home and investigate them further. Older children enjoy going to state and county fairs, visiting local museums, organizing a science project, other things you can do is visit vocational sites, fire station or police station, participate in 4H or girl/boy scouts.  Whatever it is, get out and do it, see it, and be part of it.  This is what we call ‘on the job training’.