After putting together this video, it is so clear what makes some kids successful when it comes to school and why others really struggle.
Motivation. That’s it.
And, I also know it’s not that simple to motivate kids, but stick with me for a minute…
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Thank you so much for this!
Recently, we’ve been trying to put our finger on what happens when our son plays video games, and why it bothers us. My husband and I have decided that we must limit the war/fighting games, and have placed a temporary hold on the purchase of any more of these “destroy or be destroyed” types of games.
BUT we still couldn’t put into words the right response to our son’s “Why?” question. Our answer usually consisted of, “We don’t like the behavior we see you display after you’ve played these types of games.” We knew it went deeper than that, but couldn’t formulate any better response. This caused our son to think that if he could somehow decide to be better at controlling his behavior, he could play the games. Our fear was he would flail around in a desperate tailspin, trying to be “better behaved” just so he could play video games! Not exactly the life lesson we want to teach our son!
In light of your video and info, we now have such clarity…THANK YOU! We’re taking issue with the message(s) he receives from the input of such games, and THEN the behavior he exhibits because of the message! That’s exactly what we can now discuss with him.
Thank you for taking the time to make and post this video!
Aurora, Thank you! God Bless you! Please, teach science into infinity and beyond. In the 5th grade I once had a teacher like you, sadly only that one year. I am so excited to do each and every experiment….oh yeah, my kids are loving it too. I could go on and on but I want to watch the next video.
Awesome video! I especially liked the connection you linked between good input and bad input messages that are reaching our children. Thank you once again Aurora.
excellent!
Hi Aurora. Thoroughly enjoyed the video and the message it delivered. I also think adding an inspirational link with success stories will help all of as at some time. We all have days when we are less than motivated, doubting or feeling directionless. In my case, I think such stories would help keep me focused and revive enthusiasm! Bev
This is VERY interesting to me as a homeschool mother! I’ve actually been thinking about these very issues recently as I choose my children’s curriculum for next year.
Just so you know, the above video played well for me for about the first 5 1/2 minutes. I couldn’t get the rest of it to play at all.
Thanks so much, Aurora!
Aurora, you are awesome! The video played all the way through for me, no problems there. Keep doing all that you do~loved this video! We love to learn no matter what you bring to us-you have a lot to teach and we greatly appreciate it. Thank you!!!
Aurora! I must say this was a much needed message. I am so glad you did this video. Absolutely LOVED the input and message idea. Will be watching video again with my boys today. Thanks for doing this and more. 🙂
Thanks Aurora ! This very topic is one of the reasons I chose to home school this year. Although we have had our ups & downs in our first year home schooling, I have to always go back to the core reasons we started in the first place. The input ( environment ) my kids were in every day seemed to be having more of an influence on them than my husband & I. They were becoming strangers and far from the core values we were trying to INPUT in them. Thank you for the video ! This was great INPUT to start my home schooling day 🙂
Great message. I have homeschooled and put my kids in public school and they tell me when there grades are low is because they are lazy. Am homeschooling last girl at home of three 9 kids all together. She is getting D in science math and reading. She doesnt like to read the information before the test. My son 8 years old in public school was A B student now has three Cs and a D. My high schooler has two classes he has to retake next year repeating 9th grade 3rd time. Any input on them. Older kids college masters in teaching bachelors in english and bachelors in teaching. What has changed?
Love your approach . I have enjoyed being with kids in all kinds of activities for years. I augment our youngest daughter’s education with your site as well as Maria’s. Positive Mental Attitude is the Most Precious Gift we have and yet the easiest to lose. Today’s Schools are nothing but Emotional Gratification with no consequences. I believe the Rise of Home Schooling is an effective method to reverse this travesty. Example is the Best Teacher. Take Care and God Bless
What an awesome video! This is the message I work to convey to my kids as well as people around me! I think teaching really is this simple. This message works in all areas of life!
Thank you so much for posting this! It makes perfect sense.
I’ve had great success with encouraging my kids to learn. I try to provide opportunities and follow their interests. If they express an interest in yo yos, I get the a book from the library on tricks and just leave it on the book table. This is not very academic but it encourages learning and to be self driven. I don’t mention the book, he has the choice to look at it or not. Keep the book table limited to a few and change it every other week.
I started reading books to my children as babies before bed. This encouraged their love of books. They read every night before they go to bed. We have gone to the library once a week to get books since my children were born.
I loved your message and how you presented input/messages to demonstrate what could potentially become the core of what you receive from input of information. I have a bit of a problem with the negative subjective opinions on the examples which you gave, because I could give equally negative examples with the other side of the board for your positive subjective opinions. I agree that there are negative aspects of the examples, but, there are positive ones as well. Too long/difficult to list in this arena. If I may use one example though, that if we determine that all people who live in ghettos are gangsters and therefore you need to avoid all people from ghettos…then what happens to those who make their way out and become great individuals? My point is, that it is also important that we teach our children to filter out what is good input from ALL input. We can avoid those things which cause a negative impact on us by recognizing the difference between right and wrong, or good and bad. Our children will one day meet with all sorts of input when they are grown and they need that inner Jiminy Cricket to develop and be trained inside of them to survive amidst all situations/environments/input. That is a key element that I think was missed here. Motivate…yes. Inspire…yes. Guide…yes. Mentor…yes. Teach them to become aware, excited about life, and thinking individuals.
Very good video! Thank you.
Thank you, Aurora!! I LOVED this!!
Very interesting to watch. I thought it would be a great Bible Study on why we attend church and give out lives to Christ too. Anyway, I homeschool, but it was not my choice to do. As I followed my husbands direction into the adventure, all my fears and insecurities came flooding out of me. So, I joined a homeschool group, went to conferences, and looked to others to teach me how to do this. In the course of that I started a History Co-op call “Expeditions in History”. We gathered at my home, a parent per household had to stay and help, and the kids became the teachers of the subjects. In the course of 7 years going we taught over 33 kids and their families history. Many families stayed for the whole 7 years! Because I felt so inferior teaching anything to anybody,. So using a book as a guide, I broke up each subject or period of time into different topics and assigned those topics to each kid. They had to come to class ready to “teach” their part of the story. We parents guided them into the connections with each others piece of information. We did mapping, art projects, essays and reports and at the end of each time frame we all gathered for a hugh potluck dinner as each child gave a final presentation of their part of the story. Over the years, I learned a lot about me, and that I could really teach. My kids to this day LOVE history. Also, some of the same moms got together to form a science co-op with the kids. It was a wonderful time in our homeschooling.
I enjoyed your video very much, you are a fine speaker and it was a really great message. You know when we really think about learning as a concept it makes a lot of sense. Thanks!!
Good video. Even better project! I love the idea of learning from other people’s success stories!
Great video! I look forward to seeing what week it is….with VBS and Girl Scout Camp already scheduled. Thanks!
Aurora, thanks for caring enough to share this video with us. You reminded us of contributing factors which help our children and us to learn. I will email a few successful learning strategies for your awesome idea to share the information with all of us. Thank you so much!
It is a wonderful message that you want to write about. I personally have a harder time getting motivated to teach my son who is autistic, since his learning takes a lot more patience and time. Learing about other people having success teaching and learning science would make a very positive and motivational tool. I hope to read it soon. Thanks for the input/message board. I never thought about doing something that way, I learned from you today.
I liked your video and I like your idea….I love how you are always coming up with new things. Even though I had already put together in my mind about input and thoughts leading to behavior, I didnt really make the connection how significant that is to learning process.
Thanks for sharing 🙂 As a parent and an educator, I totally agree with your premise that motivation is key to true learning. If everyone approached teaching from this viewpoint, we’d have a lot more kids loving to learn!
An interesting video and I agree that motivation is the first step to learning. When my kids are motivated I am able to maintain their attention and participation throughout the lesson.
We were talking about this just today about how to make a math curriculum that my kids wouldnt groan at even before we start. So far only have grave yard math (add, subtract, mean, median, mean, graphing etc). Need to figure out some more 🙂
Thanks for sharing! I’m fortunate to have been around a community of families who teach their children this way when I made the unexpected plunge into homeschooling. My son does so much better with hands-on, interest driven learning than with trying to plow through workbooks or dry curriculum. Not that we don’t use workbooks or curriculum…but like you say, they are what we go to as reference and information or practice sources once something that caught his interest and excitement leads to them. Often times they are only one of many sources that can be used, making for a more interesting and complete learning experience. Not to mention a kid that sees learning about the world as an exciting part of life…not something boring you do because someone else is making you. Your kid can learn how to competently and proactively find answers to questions…how to be a life-long learner and problem solver (of real problems and questions they have.)
I like how you mentioned it is actually an easier way to teach. My experience was that when I stopped wasting time trying to do it the other way, relaxed, and started doing fun activities with my kids, the learning took off, and we all found it much easier. Despite the pressure to “prove” your kids are learning what they’re supposed to, don’t be obsessed with checking off bench-marks and skills… put your energy and focus into quality learning experiences, and you’ll find the learning will take off.
Kris, I love your example.
I’m interested in reading a compilation of people’s ideas…
Aurora, where/how do you want people to send their experiences and ideas to you? Is the project tied to anything else?
A forum for great learning experiences/ideas, that is searchable by topic would be wonderful. Does anyone know of a site/sites out there that already do this? There are tons of resources/ sites on individual topics, and education in general, but I’ve yet to find a real hub, where everyone can contribute.
The video was great. Motivation is the key. You may need to take this video into the public school system to hopefully remind the teachers why they decided to teach.
As an educator myself, I spend lots of energy every day purposely giving positive messages to my students. Good job! Great answer! You figured it out! Correct! Perfect way to do that! You have such a good attitude! Students appreciate a safe and positive environment and are more inspired to learn because of it.
Having a set of Success Stories to read through is a really great idea. Not only would it serve as a “pick me up” for you, the teacher, at times; but it would also be a great resource for the students to have available to read through. They could see situations that they as students may be experiencing (or could relate to) and see a positive outcome that might be possible for themselves, too.
I would be willing to contribute to the Success Stories you plan to compile. It is thoughtful of you to include us.
I really liked your ideas, and the concept of selecting the results you want and then determining how or where to look to find those results is a great one. Keep up the good work!
As always I enjoyed your presentation. I work in both education and medicine. Your concept is very similar to processes we use in problem solving; process development, improvement and changing; teaching; program development; and much more. My daughter is a special child. We have learned, through trial and error, that when the moment comes, to have the resources, the appropriate leading questions, and make the effort to encourage exploration, without killing the joy of discovery. Please keep your efforts going. This tape was different but still very good information and well done. Thank you.
Great idea! You would really be helping everyone as we sometimes go from feeling we can do a great job to sometimes doubting if we can homeschool in a way that is the best for our children. Thanks for passing the stories along to everyone. ALSO – it would be great if you receive any stories from parents who homeschool their special needs children that you put those stories together in a separate area all together in the back of the other stories. We have three special needs children and we are at a place where we could really use some fresh ideas from others who walk in our shoes. Thanks.
Nothing new for us here, this is how we do it at home. It’s a good idea for people who don’t know how I suppose.
Wow, Aurora ~ great message and opportunity to share success with others. I needed a little inspiration this morning as our homeschool year is coming to a close and it is crazy busy. Thank you for your passion and desire to help people who are on the homeschool journey with you.
I totally agree that getting kids intrigued so they want to learn is key! Some folks find this very intimidating – they have lists of things “the kids should be learning for their age group” and get a bit uptight if what the kids want to learn isn’t on the list 🙂 But what many don’t understand is the inter-relatedness of everything. Once you get your kids excited about one area, you can find lots of ways to interconnect things, like going from thermodynamics to methods of cooking to why different cultures use these different cooking methods (which often is bringing in geography) and then to other aspects of the culture. This is just one example. Yes, we as parents need to keep on our toes to begin with to help our kids start seeing connections, but soon they start looking for those themselves, and then you’re raising a true learner/explorer. It’s a joy to see them want to learn, and you’re right – it’s a lot easier, too 🙂
Hmmmm … makes me think.
Aurora – Thanks for taking a step in a new direction and sharing this with us. I know that many homeschoolers have already chosen the paths to positive that you describe, but I have lots of non-homeschooling friends who would really appreciate this talk. Can they access this video even if they’re not members? I’d love to share this with them. Thanks again!
Thank you for such a clear presentation of what leads us to learning. I can see in the process where I need to make changes. I look forward to reading the success stories.
Hi, Well done. I like it. Are you going to put this on your site for Parents? It not only provides them with a tutorial, but is something that they can share with their friends who really don’t get Homeschooling. Your approach is actually totally unschooling, I will be sending my unschooling/Charlotte Mason syled families to your site.
FANTASTIC!! This truly is MORE important than science etc. Thank you so much for sharing this concept!
I really like this concept. I think that I can put it to good use!