As we see the success of shows like Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader?, we realize that most of us have forgotten the vast majority of the classroom lessons we learned in elementary, but I’m sure we can middle and high school as well.
Often, new homeschooling parents tell me that they have to relearn long forgotten concepts with their young warriors. Personally, I had to relearn all of middle school math when I started Kamali Academy.
What does this mean?
It means that while content is important, instilling the love of learning is more important. If I didn’t love learning, I wouldn’t have enjoyed relearning those concepts. I didn’t love learning I wouldn’t be who I am today. But I had to develop that love after the public fool system.
So even though concepts may fade over time, the love of learning should endure.
Yes, as a former high school english teacher, I believe that there are some classic books our children should read, but the reality is that we couldn’t cover all of them if we wanted to. Plus, more and more great stuff comes out every year. So more important than the books we read together is that they have a desire to continue reading once they leave my class. That’s the goal.
Be sure you are not bombarding our young warriors with content they’ll forget while at the same time zapping their love of learning. Find a way to balance the two.
Should they read well? Yes. Write well? Yes. Compute well? Yes. Think scientifically? Yes.
Love learning? Yes.
Instill that love and they will learn forever.
Revolutionary love,
Baba Dr. Brotha Samori Camara