As a parent we have many obligations to our children. We inspire our children everyday. Even if we are unaware of it, our children are always looking to us for inspiration. One way we need to inspire our children, is inspire them to learn. There are so many ways and aspects we as parents can take on this, but it is up to us on how we will go about it. I for one, have read to my kids since I was pregnant with them. I loved reading to my belly and talking to them. Some may have found it crazy, but I know that I am not the only out there who ever talked, sang or read to their unborn babies. Once my kids were born, I continued to read and talk to them on a regular basis. I believe that this helps with attentive skills as well as with speech. Those who know my kids, know that once they began talking they just never stopped. My daughter is now in school, headed to second grade, and over this summer she is reading in the afternoons and before bed. My three year old loves for me to read to him, and at this time he is learning to recognize his letters. He is also linking words up that start with the letters. So, personally, I think that reading to my kids early on, has been an inspiration for them. Another way I inspire my kids to learn is counting. When I am doing things like cooking or laundry, I will count out loud and my son will count along with me. I can stop counting and he will pick up and continue where I left off. My daughter did this as well when she was little. With my daughter I ask her to help me count change and add up the different piles I will put on the table. So when it comes to learning to count and math my kids are learning with out really thinking about it being a lesson to learn. I am also a huge believer that arts, whether they are doing art, making music or acting, I believe that the arts play a huge role in developing skills in learning and in life itself. I believe that the arts are very important in developing strong thinking skills as well. So I provide art projects for my kids, we play and make music and we also act. I love sitting at the table or pulling out the easel and watching my kids create artwork. I love playing music and watching my kids sing and dance or give them some instruments, whether they are store bought or homemade, to make their own music with. I also love throwing plots for the stage out there for my kids, then watch them improv their own plays or playtime!!! When it comes to inspiring my kids to love and learn about science, we love to explore our surroundings, whether its in the backyard or when we are out camping or hiking. The kids ask about everything and I try to answer most of their questions. We will usually focus on a particular animal, bug, critter or plant, then study our subject. Like look at tracks, look at where and what they might eat. We might follow a bug around and watch it go, or follow a little lizard and watch it as well. When we get home we usually go on the computer and look up what ever it was we were studying and learn some more about it. When it comes to history we talk about where we live, where we are from and talk about different things that have happened in history and get the kids to give us their opinion. My daughter is a little more in tune with the subject of history, buy my son does like to listen to what we have to say and he may add in his own version. Like I said before, there are so many ways we can inspire our kids to learn. Some of us may do it in ways that we see as being everyday activities that we do with our kids. Tell me, how do you inspire your kids to learn?
Intel is holding a student contest asking the question, What Inspires You to Learn?
Contest information:
- Open to students 14 – 18. If student is 14 – 17 years of age, please have parent submit on student’s behalf.
- Contest is open until August 15. Winners will be announced Sept. 15.
- Winner will receive a laptop with Intel 2nd Generation Core i5 technology for themselves, plus a Sony Internet TV for their school
- To enter, students should e-mail their name, age, state, telephone number and answer to the question, “What inspires you to learn?” to studentinspiration@intel.com (minimum 50 words)
- Students can also include links to original photos, videos or other multimedia content that will add to their entry. Please only submit content that is appropriate at school and that the student would submit to their teacher. If the entry includes content with someone in it, be sure that you have their written permission. Students cannot use copyrighted material in their entry, unless they have specific written permission from the copyrighted material owner
- Entries will be judged by a panel of Intel and education experts based upon: (1) Relevance to the question, “What inspires you to learn?” (80%), (2) compelling nature of entry, including supplementary materials submitted (20%). Note: the entries will not be made public unless they are selected as one of the finalists.
Complete contest rules http://bit.ly/IdeaJamEducationRules
This post is sponsored by Intel
I don't have any kids at the moment. However, I love how you are teaching your kids! Thank you for sharing and for leading by example!
I also love to read to my daughter, she doesn't really like it right now, she does like to count, but all she can say is nine, nine , nine lol My husband is a musician and he plays for her constantly, she LOVES the guitar and she picks at the strings. My mother was a single very busy woman so she didn't have much time to do these things, so I try to do everything with my daughter, give her every oppurtunity, teach her all the arts and skills I can, she inspires me to learn, without learning more, I won't have much to teach her.
I use my iPad a lot. The kids love playing games on it and there are great apps out there. I've got one that teaches state capitals and our 9 yr old daughter is already learning. I figure if I can make learning fun they'll never want to stop.
We read a lot.