Teach it Till They Learn It

When my kids and their cousins were babies, my father-n-law used to sit all the babies in a circle (aged newborn to about 10) and say the following. 

"My Grandpa is the best Grandpa in the Whole Wide World".  He would say this over and over for about 10 minutes.  The older kids, the ones who could talk, would begin to repeat with him. "My Grandpa is the best Grandpa in the Whole Wide World".  When he was happy with the chant (which is what it became), he would bow out of the room leaving the instructions:  "Say it till you know it."

The kids are all teenagers and young adults today.  If someone where to stand near them and say, "My Grandpa..."  They would continue by saying "is the best Grandpa in the Whole Wide World".  The programming is complete.

This week is the third attempt at testing my kids on The Cell, a biology unit.  They have been completely frustrated from trying to learn all of the little parts and what they do. We did the curriculum unit week 1... they had learned 30% of it.  Week 2, we reviewed the units using sparknotes.com, they had learned 60% of it.  After another after a week of doing internet research and videos on the cell, are much closer to full understanding, but not quite there.  They will do a 3D project next before moving on to the next unit.

This would never work in a classroom.  They would have had to take a failure for the unit and move on.




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2 comments:

Mary Ann Johnson said...

Isn't it wonderful to take the pressure off! As an adult I learn what I want and I take all the time I need. Funny how we don't give that to our small counterparts. Loving to learn comes when we are allowed to work at it until we learn it. Then we are rewarded with the glow of a job well done. Kids and adults love that feeling! Thanks for giving that to your kids.

Happy Elf Mom (Christine) said...

This might be a little young for your children, but since it's free I thought I'd pass it on anyway:

http://www.ellenjmchenry.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/botanyfirstchapter.pdf

12 grade year of homeschooling, Finishing Strong

We are almost done with my college prep series. There will still be a video on completing the transcript.    Stay tuned... meanwhile, ...