Dress your child's mind for success

Being a Wise Owl - Dress your child's mind for success!

Dress your child's mind for success! Direct Instruction with parent involvement is the key:

                We’ve all heard of “dress for success.” My motto is, “Dress your child’s mind for success.” How can I explain the emotions of watching my children learn and succeed? For me, many of the benefits of early reading the right way are heart-felt. My concern and love for my children are the reasons that I created The Godfrey Method and wrote A Funny Boy Was Prince River.

                Think of your closets and cupboards. Are things easier to find with or without shelves in there? Are things on the shelves easier to find in orderly stacks or jumbled on top of each other? It’s the same for children’s minds. Children need structure and schedules of some sort. Now, all you free spirits out there are disagreeing with me. But as a foster mom for many years, I can tell you what happens to children when their parents have no set schedule for regular meals, regular nap times, regular hugs, regular bedtimes, etc. The children suffer.

                Besides the neglect, they feel fear and uncertainty about their needs being met. They don’t learn self-control. (Some ADHD comes as a child’s coping mechanism in an unstable environment.) They don’t cope well with change. The rage can build up. The tantrums are worse. These are just the facts.

                It’s the same with educating their minds. Children actually learn better and grow mentally faster with some sort of structure. They can retrieve information better if it is presented in an orderly fashion. Child-led discovery is a farce and a disservice to our children. I’m not saying that they have to sit at a desk for hours. There are many ways to achieve direct instruction in a way that is enjoyable and interesting.

                But there are also times that we all have to knuckle down and accomplish things that we don’t want to do. If children are to cope in society and function well, they need to learn this (in age-appropriate ways). I’m not just saying this to home-schoolers. Home should be a learning environment regardless of public, private, or home school.

                In the article, Parents Make THE Difference, by Joan Ruddiman, she reports intriguing results that, “validate what we’ve always known – in the contest of life and learning, parents are the major influence in getting their kids to the head of the class.” And they should start early the right way.

                As mentioned in Vol. 5 of It's Not Rocket Surgery!, I struggled with the idea of Direct Instruction just because I used to be a home-schooler years ago, and again more recently. Some in the home-schooling movement believe in freer philosophies. Many of us are concerned about what is being taught and/or how it is taught. The best thing about home-schooling is the ability to work at the child’s pace and interest. As a scientist, I have to accept the data over the dogma. The proof for Direct Instruction in every area of academics is overwhelming. Keep it simple for success (KISS your child) with TGM.

                Currently my youngest son is home-schooled, while my two youngest daughters chose to attend public school. (My other 13 children are grown and gone.) However, my youngest daughter - age 12 - was assigned regular math instead of algebra this year. The school district has a ridiculous policy - no doubt the new effects of horrid Common Core - that wouldn't allow her to take pre-algebra in spite of her excellent grades in math last year. Why? Because she didn't "test well" on the state-mandated MAP tests at the end of the year.

                 So I bought an online algebra curriculum from Switched-On Schoolhouse by Alpha Omega Publications. My daughter is learning algebra at home. I will not allow her to be held back because of some ill-formed philosophy about where a child should be pigeon-holed. SOS provides the structure she needs, yet she can work at her own pace. We parents are the key.

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