I will be teaching a 12year old kid to read and write. Her mother didn't. The kids space where she goes is not a "classical" school where they do this kind of stuff. It is a free educational space where the children can learn what they want to learn (if they want to learn) So here it comes that this beautiful 12 year old kid is illiterate...
Who's fault it is is absolutely irrelevant. The parents. Society. Us all. Seeing all this situation made me in the beginning very irritated and angry - how is it possible? How come with so many intelligent free spirits adults around her, this kid doesn't know how to write her name?
Not all children would say it out load: I want to read! There are some, who would rather play all the time instead of learning. Some of them, indeed they have an interest into reading writing etc, but some, not. Maybe fallowing the family pattern. I know homeschooling is a good approach for so many parents! I see it all around me! I have tens of friends around that they chose to home educate and they are doing an amazing job! But some kids, unfortunately need a metaphorical kick in the ass and some help to discover the pleasure of the Ideas World...
I learnt to write when i was 5.
My older sister tought me. I also remember that when I was little I was showing my older cousins the letters. I was born with this immense luck to have a big sister. A smart good sister who liked being the big one and bossing around. So she played "teacher and pupil" game with me. And here I am today. Writing correctly grammar English on Steemit. (which is not my native language).
If you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room
The purpose of this post is not to praise myself of how intelligent am I. Although, I must add that almost always all my friends are brighter then me. If you are the smartest person in the room, then probably you are in the different room. I learnt with years and with experience how much the environment is influencing us. How much we become the medium in which we live. How we have this biological nature of adapting. If you will stay with average people, you will become exactly the same. If you stay with intelligent ones, you might get some new ideas.
The first neurological connections since we are babies
I decided I will learn this child how to read. It might be too late. Too late for this child to start learning so much that he one day will be able to go to University. I have this opinion that as sooner as you start, as brighter your chances are! It is not a rule of course and nature has always show us the exceptions. But children brains are developing with an astonishing intensity when they are babies until they are around 2-3. This is the sponge period when the connections are made. We keep on learning every day, but as the years pass, the neuronal connections are made not so easy. It is never to late to learn. But those who have this advantage of starting earlier, will most probable be smarter then the others. Most probable of course! Now it depends what we do with our start in life also. As parents, we try so much to give our small ones the best that we can have. To shape them into independent kind hearted intelligent beings. We all try our best to give them a good start in life. So when they grow up, they can develop as they wish to develop. They can become who they want to become. But the fertile background where they have sprouted indeed matters.
How to switch from an invisible child to an actually person?
Going back to this kid, I said I am gonna do it! I saw him being neglected in different occasions, I know him from many years. But we are so used to looking away from the vulnerable people, that it was kind of reflex that he was there, a child from the neighbors doing his things and I pass on with my life. Maybe the rest of the neighbors don't know the situation, all though it is not so hard to imagine... People are too busy to carry on with their lives without looking at the invisible ones. Being so centered in our own bubble, that the rest except our small family doesn't really matter. I am exactly the same. That's why I am writing it. Some sort of self criticism of not starting to make change happen earlier. We all did what we could. We all have our limits...
One hour a week can change the world
So we will be starting with one hour a week. Little steps to change the world! Most of the children have 4-5 hours of writing and reading a week in school. I will start with one. Much better then nothing! If everything will be ok, we can extend the time. Or find other adults who want to get involved. One hour a week can save a child life! One hour dedicated to the humankind or the Planet Earth can change the world! It takes so little to make good things happen! I know many of us feel that they would like to help somehow others, but they do not exactly know how. Not all of us are good in initiating things and most of the times we are just lost in the what to do world? I know that most of my time I spend it in my head and in my what to do world.
The Rainbow Gatherings - the utopic way of a beautiful society
In the last years I have been going to Rainbow gatherings. If you don't know about them, I will briefly explain them shortly here. Basically, a Rainbow Gathering is an utopic way of creating society. A group of people (from some tens to some thousands) gather together for 1 month (usually from new moon to new moon) in a place in the nature and they stay connected with no electricity, telephone, whatever and do everything together - cooking, eating, helping, etc. Everything we do together like brothers and sister would do. We just pretend, or maybe pretend is not a good word. We act like we are a big family. Which in the fact we are! The Rainbow Gathering is just a gathering! We are supposed to be loving, kind and free all the time, the rest of the year no matter where we are. We just meet there with each other to share positive energy and ideas. But we are Rainbow all the time!
Make change happen
So whenever you see something that makes you frustrated, just change it! If you keep on seeing it on a daily basis, it will not get solved by itself. And you will end up more irritated if you ignore it (because as a matter of fact, you can not trully forget something, once you acknowledged it). Make change happen! You don't need to start with big things to change the world. Just the small ones matter as much as the big ones. This are some values that I try to fallow through my life. Not that I necessary care so much about others. But rather because I love myself more then everything and if I don't do them, I am not able to sleep in the nights.
- Cut down the plastic.
In the past, everybody wanted to be a legend to leave a legacy behind. Now we will just keep living tons and mountains of plastic behind so the world will never forget us! - Throw your compost outside, giving a chance for the seeds to grow from the Earth
- Be kind with others.
You have no idea where they are coming from and what they have been through - Help someone, give him a finger, you might mean the world to them.
- If you are in the dilemma to give or not to give, the answer is always to give!
I am not sure if I manage to inspire others by my example. I wish I could. For me it is irrelevant. This is my path that I lave to take and if I can bring some love and light on the way, then my job on this Earth is almost done.
Lots of love from the Purple Moon.
Thank you for stopping by!
Yes teach him if he's interested. Its probably much easier to learn with an outsider. Dont judge the parents though. I dont know who the child is, but his parents surely have the right not to force him to learn. Reading is a useful thing in life. It will make his life easier. But its not easy and simple for everyone. He may already feel to old to try and might find it easier later on when not so self conscious. But you may just give him a beautiful unexpected gift.
thank you for your comment! i haven't started yet, but i will next week. i must admit i am judging a bit the parents... he is a bit abandoned there. so maybe reading and writing was not the main thing to do, rather he was concentrated to survive in this environment. it is always easier to learn with an outsider, indeed. i will see how it goes!
ahh.. i hope it goes well. if it goes well you might have a few other parents round here queuing at your door for help!
i hope not finding parents queuing at my door :)) being a single parent is hard enough, i can not help everybody :) there are schools for that! :)
yes, just joking.
It is absolutely NOT too late! A 12 year old should pick up reading very fast if he is interested. The trick is finding things HE wants to read! Take him to the library and find an assortment of books about things he is interested in, and if he is not into a certain book, don't force it, move on!
If he is interested, he will absorb it like a sponge! If he is bored or frustrated, it will be like pulling teeth.
Best of luck! ♥
such a good idea you have! take him to the library! brilliant! i will start next week to see how it goes :) although we live quite remote and the library in town is not so close by. but maybe this will make him motivated - a trip to the town! :) thank you for your comment! x
ps: how did u make this heart symbol? :)
I know what you mean. We live 30min from the nearest town, so we have to try and run all our errands in one day to not waste too much gas.
The heart symbol is made by holding down the 'alt' key and then pressing the number 3, while still holding alt. Then release and the heart shows up. There are other symbols you can make with different numbers and 'alt'. ♫☼►♣
this heart thing is not going! i tried it with all the keys now. i have ubuntu system maybe that's why.
i live 1 hour walking from town or 10 minutes driving through a rusty track that eats a lot of gas! yes, we also try to do all of the shoppings in one day because going to the market is a mission! :)
Aww Im sorry it didnt work for you! It must be a different system...
I'm sorry I'm going to be opinionated here, but homeschooling is not schooling if no schooling occurs. I think it is shocking the child has not been taught to read. I am not against homeschooling at all, and it can be a lifesaver for some, as the formal school system is very narrow. But schooling must occur, it is our duty to ensure our kids are educated, one way or another. Thank you for helping him.
this is a very interesting debate and i'm sure there's thousands of people here on Steemit, all homeschooling with a thousand different ideas on what home schooling should consist of. My kids go to school but i'm fascinated with the many ways my friends homeschool their kids. i have one friend who taught none of her four children anything unless they specificaly asked to be taught. They all decided at sixteen to go to college and find out about formal education for themselves. Only one of them found it too challenging to finish.
thank you for your comment @onetree! i ensure you that we indeed have the same opinion in here! the most important thing is schooling to occur indeed. no matter if it is roadschooling, homeschooling unschooling or normal schooling. i also find it unacceptable for a child to be 12 and unable to read...
Thank you for caring also! After a great comment here from @squishysquid i had this idea to take him to the library! a new world for him! a new town, so maybe he will find it exciting.
x
wow! write a post about this 4 kids and the college experience @shivvi! i am also surrounded by all this example of people that homeschool their children. where i live here, the majority of kids are home educated, only a few of them go to normal schools. in deed they all seem to be all right, but somehow, my well educated mind in the system tells me that we still need to fix in some patterns for basic reading and writing at least... maybe i am too brainwashed by the system to see the alternative way of total freedom :) but still, some boundaries i find good! not that it is a good or bad thing, just different perspectives.
I have such an attraction for little children, and i find this post as one i can make a comment to; its very important we note for sure the importance of teaching and also motivating little children in their sphere of being as our FUTURE depends on the little ones , it goes far than teaching the alphabets to teaching the motive and credibility of living, so what?
For every investment we make on the little child we do it to help and set a future for the child and ourselves, its most times hard for little ones to comprehend the in the beginning of learning, so we sow into them because we seek to see a better community in the future, please do all you can to make that little child SMILE AT LAST.
Much Love from me to all Children in the World
God Bless you @homeschooling
Regards
@steamingsteem
thank you for your comment @steamingssteem indeed, investing into small children is changing the future!
god bless you too! xx
if this kid wants to learn ,then that's great go for it, I imagine you have had this conversation with the said kid already. For me it's super important to be doing these things at home, with your children around you, they instinctively want to do what you are doing, also having the resources/materials for them to write etc is very important and also books that they are interested in, My eldest loves horses and dragons, so we have alot of books about them in our truck. The second one loves unicorns and animals so we stock books in that too To be honest I love reading and we have alot of books, and they both love to sit and look at them. providing a stimulating environment is so important and listening to your children also. As this is not your child they probably already verbalised a desire to learn but were not heard or the resources where not available. I'm guessing really. One thing I do know is that we all learn differently, so it's best to find out how best this kid learns things and take it from there. My 2 oldest girls are very different, one learns visually while the other one has a great memory and learns more phonically, this I discovered by watching them play and interact. good luck x
thank you @trucklife-family. i already asked him if he knows how to read and write and he said that read a bit and write no. and i asked if he wants me to help him and said yes. so from this point, i will see what i can do... i plan to bring him to the library in the beginning to see how it goes. you will find out soon anyway :) x
Such a great post, @purplemoon! You should teach whoever and whenever the opportunity arises. The 12 year old should catching quickly. I don't think all childcare suitable for home schooling and not all are suitable for public and or private. Each child is unique. I'm homeschooling my 14 and 8 year old.
I'd actually like to be able to talk more about homeschooling with you and your ideas. You've always been progressive in my opinion and in the right path with things.
Great Thoughts you have here and you'll do fine teaching! 💙
Great post, I look forward to hearing how you get on teaching this child, and offer support and feedback if required. Bless.