Posted August 20, 2023

If you were to apply for a job at a company that was known for innovation and ground breaking advances, they probably won’t ask for your grade point average. They won’t ask for your test scores or your school ranking. None of that will matter. They want to know if you know HOW to learn.

The world is changing so fast that what you are taught in school is probably out of date. They want to know if you have figured out how to teach yourself! Nobody has time to hold your hand and there won’t be a room full of desks and a teacher.

Here are more expectations that “the elite” have for their child’s education. (last newsletter had the first 8). These “beyond the classroom” ideas are from John Taylor Gotto, award winning teacher.

9) Push kids in their interests. Kids become fascinated by different “things”. Give them time to explore in depth. Push them to see all the connections that the “thing” has to other “things”. Challenge them to push beyond their internal boundaries. Never let them be satisfied with just an OK performance.

10) They must learn to write well. Start a journal. Every evening write what you “discovered” that day. Not a list of what you did. Push deeper. What profound statement did grandma make? Am I satisfied with my own growth today? What impacted me at dinner? Start with a minimum of 300 words (about 30 sentences). Work towards 1000 words a day.

11) Accuracy in observation. Try drawing something or describing something, then elevate your drawing/writing. Did you get the proportions right? How about the lighting and the shadows? Were there details you glossed over? Being able to accurately observe your environment, people, the feeling and the mood will sharpen every skill you are developing.

12) Never go to a book if you can talk to the author. I read a book about gardening that was way beyond any other gardening book I had ever read. The author, I discovered, lived in Norwalk, OH. I contacted him, we had dinner together and he showed me stuff that was way beyond what was even in his book. We became lifelong friends. Another time I drove to Raleigh, N. Carolina to meet another author. It was worth the drive.

Again, none of these ideas cost a lot of money. But you do need to invest time in your kids. Each skill you work at with them is also a skill you are learning. When YOU start a journal, soon your kids will want their own journal. Your kids need to see you writing and wanting to grow wiser, not just older. Pick one and just go for it!

That’s what good play is all about.

No directions, nobody telling you that
“you can’t do it that way”.

It’s pure discovery!