In my opinion, these last two aspects of parenting and education are the hardest because they require us to lay aside our own wants for the sake of others. It is the essence of Christianity - laying down our lives for others. The first people that we should do this for is our spouse and children.
Are you willing to dedicate time in your day to ensure that your children know the Bible?
Are you willing to dedicate time in your day to ensure that your children speak kind words?
Are you willing to dedicate the time needed to help your little person know the importance of whatever you're trying to teach them?
Time is an important factor, especially when you consider just one piece of a teacher's life: vocabulary retention. Researchers found that it takes approximately thirty-five times of hearing, seeing, reading, and using a word before it is committed to memory. That is as true for word automaticity in sight word training as it is for high school science terminology. It just takes a lot of time!
I could give you countless examples!
Like when it comes to ensuring a struggling reader makes gains, it takes at least 30-60 minutes of daily one-on-one instruction for sixteen weeks to see growth.
Time.
One last example, when children over the age of six were asked if their parents still read to them (Scholastic Family Reading Report) the majority of them reported that their parents no longer read to them, but wished they did. Children simply want your time.
My Confession
I admit that owning an online business takes a lot of my time. I'm learning so much about algorithms, marketing, leads, and am trying to make an honest effort to engage with my followers. Most importantly, I want to provide my customers with the best possible experience to encourage and offer tools for growth. All of that takes a lot of time. (Not to mention being a wife and house keeper!) I find that all of those responsibilities really suck me in and my children get less and less of me. I am the first to tell you how much my children desire my time. They want to show me their pictures, tell me about what they're reading, what they found, their LEGO creation. They want me to read to them. They want me to ride bikes, put together a puzzle, go outside, visit the library, all.the.things. Listing all of that sounds easy peasy, right? But I too often allow the busyness of life take over my time, rather than being intentional with my time. So this post is written to encourage and motivate myself as well as you.
You can become your child's greatest educational asset by simply giving them your undivided time to play LEGO's, put together puzzles, enjoy a game of basketball, play a board game, create with Playdoh, and most importantly, read to them.
Take the time.