Children Learn At Their Own Rate & In Their Own Time

Children learn at their own rate, and in their own time. Seems pretty self-explanatory, doesn’t it? Yet, the current education system seems to have misplaced the memo. I’m not just talking about the formal school years either, this issue starts from daycare and preschool. With the pressure for “school-readiness.” As if daycare/preschool is more of a bootcamp, instead of a place where children can spend the most important years of their development in a place of presence, support and nurturing, filled with play.

Let me tell you a personal story involving my own children. My eldest son didn’t start talking until he was 2 years old. He also wasn’t formally taught to read, until he spent a brief stint of 2 terms at a state school. However, when he was ready, and when he was learning things in his own way and time, his learning skyrocketed. He went from not being able to read, to reading 100+ page chapter books targeted at children at least 2 years older than him. He went from only being able to write capital letters, to writing stories with correct grammar and punctuation. He went from simple maths, to understanding algebra and multiplication within a very short space of time. Is he a genius? Honestly, I have no idea what the benchmark for being classed as a genius is. What I do know, and what I contribute his understanding to, is this:

Learning about WHAT he is interested in, WHEN he is interested in and HOW he wants to express that learning.

For example, at the beginning of the year we did a 10-week investigation on Australian Birds. He went bird watching and kept a journal, collected feathers and other nature items to create artworks, read many fiction and non-fiction books on Australian birds, wrote stories using birds as the characters and did maths equations based on the information he collected in his birdwatching journal. I want to add, that my son chose this unit of study. He wanted to know all about Australian birds, and use real life situations to do that learning. Instead of just reading about birds in books, he went out into the world. He found them, he identified them, he observed them, and as a result his knowledge of them grew in a real, fundamental and concrete way.

Now to contrast this story with my younger son. He wasn’t delayed in his talking. In fact, he could very clearly and accurately say words like “asparagus” and “vacuum cleaner” at 10 months old. At his current age of 4, he taught himself all addition equations up to 10, he can count with no errors to 50, he can write his own name and he can recognise most of the upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet. Did I intentionally teach him any of this? No, no I did not. Am I shocked that he can do all of this at 4 years old? Yes, my answer is yes. To spell his name, he observed it on name labels, then he used chalk, lines in the sand, pencils, lots of trial and error, until eventually he has been able to write his own name…neatly and accurately for the past several months.

My point in telling you these 2 stories, is that children really do learn at their own rate and in their own time. For many things, children don’t need formal learning. They need supportive, understanding and considerate adults to help them along the way when they stumble, struggle and occasionally fall. But they don’t need us to sit next to them, telling them exactly how to do things, or give them worksheets or alphabets to trace. Each child has their own strengths and weaknesses. Some children pick up maths really quickly but struggle with physical activities like coordination. Other children learn to read and write really quickly, but find it challenging to hold a musical tune. Does this mean they are failures? Nope, nope and nope. This means they are human. They will naturally gravitate towards those areas of learning that resonate with them and that they tend to excel at.

When my eldest son spent those few months at school, he struggled. He became anxious, perfectionistic and stressed because of the pressure he was placed under by the school to meet certain standards at certain times. Now I will tell you truthfully, I LOVE paperwork, like I get enjoyment in filling out forms and answering questionnaires (yes, I may be weird but I did love my admin jobs in my previous employment lives). However, the worksheets my son was given, well it was boring as batshit quite frankly. Not only was he doing copious amounts of worksheets at school (I knew because I would go in every week to help his class with literacy groups), but he was also given them as homework…at age 5! I wasn’t given homework until high school. These are actually some of the reasons I pulled my son out of school, and we started our natural learning (some call unschooling) journey. He has gone back to loving learning about new things. I know how he learns, so we do a lot of hands-on, real life experience learning. I also know he is learning a lot, because every time one of my Family Day Care families walks through the gate, he is immediately telling them all these wonderful and insightful facts and information. He is demonstrating his ability to retain and comprehend what he is learning, not just memorising and regurgitating it at will for a test.

My final thoughts for this, is that teachers are not to blame for this. I know that the teachers at my son’s school were amazing. They often told me they didn’t like how the Australian Curriculum seemed to be moving to younger and younger years of age, so that Year One level is now actually taught in preschool. They are struggling too. The problem stems from the very top of the education system, where the curriculum and testing comes from. From the people who have no idea about child development, no idea about the increase in mental health problems among children and who perhaps had traumatic childhoods they have not healed from or they have forgotten the magic of childhood play. Either way, the entire system needs an overhaul by professionals who are lovingly invested in the best interests of the children, and who have the neuroscience and knowledge to understand how the developing brain works.

What are your thoughts on the education system? Are you children thriving or struggling? If there are things you could change about your child’s schooling, what would it be?

Leave you comment below.

Thanks for reading, and until next time…

Much gratitude,

Steph

Recommended Reading:

Cooperative and Connected - Aletha Solter

Dumbing Us Down - John Taylor Gatto

How Children Learn - John Holt

Free to Learn - Peter Gray