What Every Student Needs

Yesterday was my first meeting with Luke (not his real name). He would like help with Mathematics, English and the sciences. Our first meeting took the form of a conversation. I wanted to know what he was hoping to achieve in his education. And I came to realise his aim did not reflect what he could become in Christ, which is to say he wasn’t aiming for the highest development of his mind and soul.

I then questioned him on why he wasn’t aiming for the highest academic achievements, I wanted to know the nontrue thoughts he had, if any, and the mindset he had. Some of the reasons he gave were, “Its hard”, “I’m not that smart”, these and similar reasons he gave as an explanation of why he wasn’t aiming higher.

And following from those answers I asked him about what people who achieve the most have in common. He gave some good answers, which we then distilled to a more memorable, and shorter list: a growth mindset, industriousness and trust in God.  These qualities can be developed, and therefore Luke can also aim higher, is what I then helped him to see. (That is the list for now, it will lengthen a bit more later, after we have made those three qualities his habits.)

To further encourage Luke to aim higher, we also spoke about how aiming low now might translate into his later years, he might continue aiming low. And he might look back later with regret for not aiming higher.

The more we spoke about aiming higher, the more Lukes eyes grew brighter. He grew more hopeful and more cheerful. He decided to aim higher, and he knew it was going to mean work, hard work. I know he will do well. He knows now what brings success. And he now has what I think every student needs from parents and teachers: a coach who lovingly encourages them to come up higher.

In the next meeting we will talk about how Luke can have more than human help, the help that comes from God. I will help him to know that God will bless unselfishness efforts towards development to serve in this world. And with a higher aim, those ideas in mind, and qualities developing, he will be ready to receive help in Mathematics, English and the sciences.

Learning for Mastery

Students rarely get the training that sees them gain mastery over their subjects in school. This lack of mastery I deeply felt in higher education. Though my tutors praised my ‘gift’ for weaving together a logical set of arguments, I did not always get the highest mark in my essays. I had a loose grasp of English grammar. Students from other disciplines felt highly betrayed by their early schooling in others ways. In mathematics, gifted students came to realise that math was more than the rote learning of procedures and formulas. University maths required creativity, curiosity and logical thought. Capacities they had not sufficiently developed. So mastery is needed, you see.

Starting in September I will be offering classes for students ages 12-16 in English grammar and mathematics. Students will have a wonderful chance to learn through reason, experiment and problem solving alongside other kindhearted learners. It will be my aim to help students develop a mastery of both subjects. They can expect to develop into curious, creative and logical problem-solvers, who have a love for expression and thought.

Training Children To Be Thinkers

To think for themselves, to observe for themselves and to decide for themselves, all children can be taught. To succeed in spiritual and temporal matters, it is essential that they can think and decide for themselves. If we do not train children to think, on matters that require thinking, they will depend on others to think for them. The burden then, as they are taught the common branches, should be to make them thinkers.

English Grammar

To understand language in all its shades of meaning, to speak and write more clearly and to cultivate their reasoning capacities, children must be taught grammar. They should first learn grammar indirectly; they should be exposed to good writing; they should be taught to interpret thoughts and they should be questioned on use of words and groups of words in sentence’s (e.g. which word in the sentence tells us the quality of the man? which words name things? or what caused the man to fall?). Those teachers have had success who have first approached the teaching of grammar this way. Children do not at first need to learn technicalities of grammar. Introducing the technicalities too early can close the way that leads to a love of studying grammar.

Science

With their senses and by experiment men discovered the ideas that we call science. Their abilities to imagine and reason were strengthened as they observed nature in search for her secrets about light, gravity, and the ocean. In school today, science is made the study of words and definitions. And children soon lose their curiosity and interest about the natural world. Naturally observers, thinkers and admirers of the natural world, children must be allowed to observe and search for truth in this way. They must be allowed to do science.

Mathematics

To keep a record of lambs and ewes, to measure their lands, it seems men first begun to use numbers. Mathematics served them practically. Solving new problems also shaped them into creative, imaginative, and attentive thinkers. But much of school mathematics is learnt by rote and drills. As a result, the faculties of the mind are little stretched to their development.

It is in response to these issues that I have started offering preparatory lessons in mathematics, english and science. It is my hope that these lessons will help lay the foundation for close reasoning and logical thinking that will strengthen with years. If we want children to preserve their individuality and to have success in spiritual and temporal matters, we must train them to think.

The preparatory lessons are for homeschooling children and children in school. (ages 8-11)