Jump Starting Your Child's Education: Recognizing Teachable Moments!

Helping your child prepare for the rigors of the modern education process can be as easy as spending time in the kitchen. Let me remind you how often your get-togethers or parties with friends end up with a lot of people hanging out in the kitchen. Often children are either forbidden to be in the kitchen at these times, or they are quickly moved to a different room during such times. The kitchen takes on a mysterious aura, especially with all the wonderful aromas wafting out of that magical room.

The kitchen provides many opportunities to share a teachable moment with your child. Here is one example that does not endanger dinner. You can mix math and science into a project that is as easy as making cookie dough. Make a batch of activity dough with your young learner. Most young children love to play with moldable, pliable, dough. Remember how much fun you had with it? Just like you once did, your young learner can squish and mold it into limitless shapes.

Recipe for Activity Dough

Here are the ingredients you need for this teachable moment.

2 cups finely sifted flour
1 cup table salt
4 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 cups water
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 box of food coloring
1 Non-stick saucepan

To make the activity dough:

First, add the food coloring to the water.

Second, mix all of other the ingredients together in a pan.

Next, cook your 'recipe' over medium heat, stirring gently until it forms a soft ball.

Then, allow the mixture to cool enough to touch safely.

Knead slightly into a ball.

You will need to store your activity dough in an air tight container to maximize its shelf life.

This example has so many teachable moments to offer. You have math in the form of measuring ingredients. Science is in the mixing of ingredients as well as the change the mix undergoes while being heated. Then you have wide open possibilities involving shapes and sizes and construction. Make an activity dough 'snowman' on a hot July day and make up a wintertime story to tell each other. You can even demonstrate responsibility by having your child store the activity dough properly after use so it does not dry out too quickly. Moreover, now your child has his or her own personal memory of a special event all their own in the family kitchen.

Before we wrap up our time in the family kitchen let me suggest that you keep a part of the kitchen table clear just for your child to use. I know your child has his or her own room (which is where we parents send them to get them out from under foot) but an always available chair and table space at the kitchen table tells your child they have another special place elsewhere in the house other than their own room. It also says they are always welcome while you work in the kitchen.

Even the closest of siblings can sometime benefit from being apart for a little while; one sibling can enjoy some private time in the bedroom while the other sibling enjoys being in kitchen, even if only for a short time. If brothers or sisters won't be separated, then allow them both at the table with the understanding they must put up whatever activity they were enjoying at the table so there is room to eat.

Again, you can work in a lesson on responsibility for a single child or cooperation if there are multiple children involved. The Unbreakable Rule Number One for multiple children working at the table is no fighting or name calling while at the table. Plus, your child sitting at the kitchen table while you prepare dinner, do the bills, or tend to the dishes, can provide a great opportunity for a simple conversation about whatever topic your child is willing to talk about; and that conversation can give you an idea for what materials or preparation you need to maximize a future teachable moment.

Studies show that all children have multiple levels of intelligence and favor one or more learning styles over others. The common learning styles are summarized by hearing, seeing, and doing. They are further broken down into Visual/Spatial, Kinesthetic/Body, Verbal/Linguistic, Logical/Mathematical, Musical/Rhythmic, as well as Interpersonal and Intrapersonal. These are common traits no matter what the parents' educational background, racial or ethnic background, or socio-economic background is. Children are born ready to learn and will rise to their fullest potential if that potential is nurtured. It is up to you to begin that learning process; and now, more than ever, it is up to the parent to nurture a child from birth onward in order to succeed, and thrive, throughout the formal education process.

You, as a parent, may not need to know the breakdown of learning styles to help your child, but it the information could be insightful for you. This is only one line of study classroom teachers pursue so that we may better help students of varying learning abilities maximize their individual abilities and limitations. All you need to observe, as a parent, is whether your child learns better by seeing, hearing, or doing an activity so you can capitalize on his or her preferred style of learning.

Everyday routines provide great learning experiences for younger learners. Daily repetition allows lessons to sink in based on a young child's retention abilities. Referring back to earlier examples reminds you how beneficial it can be to turn off the cell phone while in the car or get your child involved in family activities with an eye toward seizing a teachable moment. Only you really know what your child is interested in and that puts you first in line to make your child's world big and wonderful and their education meaningful.

If your child shows an interest in reading or telling stories, he or she is showing strength in the Verbal or Linguistic area. Tell stories based on the cereal box pictures or about the man walking the dog you pass every morning on the way to daycare.

Work on their memory skills by having your child remember what has been told so far then add a new 'chapter' to the story every time you do the story telling exercise. Encourage them to write (if they are of writing age) ideas as they come and read them aloud the next time you work on your story.

If your child is already at daycare or pre-school, have your young learner incorporate something from their experiences there into the story. If they are artistic in nature, have them illustrate, even in crayon, a scene from the story, or the cover art if the story is ever made into a book. You know what works best for your situation; and remember they are having fun-not 'learning'.

If your child shows an interest in math or numbers, they are showing strength in the Logical or Mathematical area. Soon they will be programming your newest digital gadget for you but for right now, it is up to you to start them in the right direction. There are lots of number puzzle and math game books available as well as games and puzzles in various magazines. I know many of us do not enjoy math as adults and, as a result, of our attitude, the kids pick up on this. We must make a conscious effort not to 'disrespect' math around young impressionable minds. The subject will probably be difficult enough without us adding a negative predisposition to an impressionable mind. Remember saying: 'If only I knew then what I know now…'

I tell my high school students, who hate the math portion of my curriculum, two illustrative stories about the relevance of knowing math skills in everyday life. I tell them how geometry is important in the game of billiards and how basic math skills are used in the dart game 'Five-O-One'. I also add there are arcs in basketball, trajectories in marksmanship competitions, estimation in golf, measurements in building everything, and a reason to keep track of your own money so no one can easily steal from you.

If your young learner shows an interest in drawing or looking at pictures, he or she is showing strength in the Visual or Spatial area. Alphabet blocks are great for identifying letters by their names, as well as for building shapes; and alphabet blocks are a great starting point for many other learning experiences. Over time you will notice what particular thing your visual learner is drawn to. As your learner gets older and learns not to eat the small pieces you can expose them to puzzles, coloring books, watercolor paints, and so much more. Have your young artist draw a scene from the family story or draw the cover art for an imaginary book then hang their art on the refrigerator.

When your young learner finally discovers the wonders of a computer is not the time to abandon them to their own devices. Guide them to areas about their interests located in the child friendly sites of the World Wide Web. We often just say 'the internet', but the internet truly is a world-wide-web of information and access to all of the great artists, composers, and thinkers a parent could want to expose their children to. But, it is best when you sit there to share, and monitor, the experience with your child.

If your child is showing strength in the Body or Kinesthetic area he or she will be active, probably very active. Responding to this active learning style will be very difficult for most parents further draining their energy and time away. For just one moment imagine a teacher who has one or more of these Kinesthetic type learners mixed into a class of twenty or more students with all of the other learning styles mixed in as well. Now, to make it a complete mental image, imagine this mixed class of diverse students is a loathed class like math or history or civics. This image should give you a glimpse of the chaos in the typical classroom and the burden of trying to reach every student equally that teachers face every day of the school year.

We teachers understand the stress you parents feel; please remember we have more kids to tend to daily than Ma and Pa Kettle and The Brady Bunch combined. We do this for seven long periods five days a week; give us a compassionate thought every now and then. But, more importantly, give that single classroom mix of students and learning styles a long thought and you will understand why it is so important for you, the parent, to prepare your child for their classroom experience.

Kinesthetic oriented students will be drawn to sports, vocational pursuits, acting, or outdoor activities. From sports these young learners can grow up to be athletes, trainers, or coaches in any sport. Future dancers could grow from the young fidgeter that annoys you to no ends. Games are a great way to nurture the active young learner; for example, hide and seek nurtures thinking skills, self-control, and counting. If your young child sees a sport on television that attracts their attention, follow up on their interest by providing more information about the sport's history and rules. Perhaps, a chance to see the sport played live or participate in it to see if they like it will also build the parent-child bond.

Reaching out to your kinesthetic learner would be an opportunity for a DVD to be an asset. Practice a dance routine with your young learner. Once the initial laughter over awkward moves dies away, you and your child can get down to the business of learning the dance steps. It will be good exercise for you and fun for your child. Let the phone ring, set a specific amount of time for each lesson (so you won't get burned out after one or two times), and don't stop practicing until your child indicates they are ready to move on to another style or routine. Later, when you're too sore to move, you can use the remote to watch the TV program that you taped while you were making your child's day a memorable one.

Next, we have the learner who has strengths in the Musical or Rhythmic area. These are the children who tap out a beat or pick up a melody at an early age. These are the children who make the toy instruments sound better than they should.

Singing to very young children, no matter how you sound, at least while they're too young to complain, is always good. Playing CDs by classical composers is a time-honored tradition in many nurseries. Showing operas and musicals to young learners demonstrates how music, color, motion, and acting all blend to create a unique experience.

One thing I've notice over the last several years is that more and more of my inner city students have wanted to be a rapper rather than anything else. Not that many years ago, most of my inner city students wanted to become a professional basketball player. One of the software programs I have in my Visual Production class allows students to create a soundtrack for their video production work. Most of their soundtracks were very much like the limited repetitious beats that make up so much rap music. My point is that so many of today's students have a limited (commercial) knowledge of music that I wonder what their potential would have been if they had experienced a wider range of music before they heard rap. I highly recommend keeping pre-teens away from hours and hours of rap music videos-even if they really, really want to learn a 'dance' move 'As Seen on Television'. If you haven't actually listened to the lyrics of most rap/Gangsta rap songs I think you will be greatly disturbed when you do give them a listen.

Simply by taking a few extra moments every day to interact and share routine or new experiences with your child, you will steadily build your child's Interpersonal and Intrapersonal skills. These two skills will be necessary when entering the classroom experience. A student of any grade will encounter bullies, overworked teachers, confusing instruction, peer pressure, senseless policies, and distractions. With solid interpersonal skills your child will have a better shot at understanding what is going on around him or her, communicating with peers and teachers, building a network of friends, and working cooperatively with others. With solid intrapersonal skills your child will have legitimate self-esteem, the experience to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of others, resist peer pressure, and be able to work alone or ask for help without embarrassment.

As I sat in my backyard watching a mother robin and her young chick I marveled at how focused the mother bird was. Her parental instinct controlled of all of her actions. The young chick hopped along, about a foot and a half behind mom, chirping away as mom searched for food in the freshly cut zoysia grass. After a while the mother bird turned and cocked her head at the chick and made a bird sound. The chick stopped in its tracks and mom went back to looking for food. The chick was silent for about thirty seconds as mom continued to hop around searching for insects. Then the chick began to chirp again. Mom turned to look back, the chick quieted, and then mom went back to work. A minute later the chick began hopping after mom. Occasionally an insect would shoot up out of the grass, spooked from its cover by the loud, ungainly, chick. The chick finally caught up to its mother and together they continued searching for dinner. The chick was unaware that by following its mother it was alerting the bugs they were being hunted. Perhaps a hungry night would cause the little chick to follow its mother's directions next time. Soon mother and chick were through the chain link fence and out of sight leaving me thinking about the different nature of parental instinct between animals and humans. We humans seem to have the technological and comfort edge in raising children except that we suffer from human distractions. What has the proliferation of cell phones, advent of five hundred television channels, and the rise of the personal computer done to our innate parental instincts? Sadly, it seems we humans have lost our natural parental instincts to put our children first.

As teachers, and parents, we believe that all children can learn. As a teacher, one of my favorite classroom moments is when I actually see 'the light' go on and understanding take root in a student's eyes. What teachers have to accept, and adapt to, is that all children learn at different rates and in different ways. The various rates and styles in which student's learn is what makes the typical classroom environment chaotic at times. As a parent you only have one or two or three children to focus your attention on. Teachers have so many more students begging for attention throughout the day. Once again, this typical classroom environment is one important reason why you must establish your child's foundation skills before your child enters the formal education experience.

One of the motivational wall posters most teachers display is one that says: TEAM-Together Everyone Achieves More. That acronym is displayed to encourage students to work together in a cooperative manner toward a single goal. That adage also has another deeper meaning; classroom teachers know TEAM actually refers to Teachers, Students, and Parents working in harmony as a group for the betterment of the student.

As a parent you want the best for you child. That's a given. So do teachers. But a parent can not just be the person who feeds, clothes, and shelters them. You must be the person who inspires them to be all they can be. Whether you live in the projects, farm belt, mountains, coastal plains, or anywhere else, you are the first person to exercise control over your child's future.

If you are not happy where you live then do you really want your child remaining trapped in the same location for the rest of their life as well? If you are not happy with the job you have, do you not want your child to have a better opportunity to find a job they enjoy? If you now know more than you did when you were young, don't you want your child to be spared some of the distress you've already experienced by learning lessons too late? Don't you wish someone had spent a little more time showing you a bigger picture of the world? Instilling the desire to learn in a young child is far less expensive than providing food, clothing, and shelter. You can do this. You can start them toward a better life by simply being there for them and recognizing, and maximizing, teachable moments that will expand their world.

Reducing time spent on the phone or computer and tape delaying your television viewing then spending that time on your young learner will return benefits both now and as the child grows older. The nights your child is away visiting friends or to ill to play, you can catch up on computer time, chatting on the phone, or catching up on lost sleep. Enjoy your child free leisure time while feeling satisfied by knowing that you are doing all you can as caring parent. All too soon your child will be away more and more often; if you're lucky they will come home eager to tell you what they did, and if you're real lucky, eager to tell you what new thing they learned.

As your child grows up in an obviously caring and learning oriented atmosphere long term studies show the lines of communication should stay open even when they become teenagers. Communication will allow you to monitor what your child is learning as well as allow your child to ask for help from you, teachers, counselors, and mentors without feeling embarrassed.

Within the family structure your young learner will learn boundaries and the consequences of not following the rules. I've had students who could best be described as feral because of the home environment they have been raised in. If a child has strict and consistent instruction in boundaries and social mores it makes it easier on the teacher and easier for the student to resist detrimental peer pressure. One major problem in many public schools is inconsistent enforcement of rules and ineffectual consequences for classroom misbehavior. The first time a student returns to class from a trip to the principal's office with nothing more than a lecture for a serious, or repeated, offense the school's principal has just ruined that class's discipline structure for the teacher. But, when the student is more concerned about making mom or dad or grandma happy than going with the crowd, public schools will be one step closer to improving no matter the political agenda or litigation concerns.

When a child has a strong foundation to build on, the formal education experience can be rewarding despite classroom distractions. Peer pressure is nearly impossible to overcome in any grade, so the key is for a student's mindset to be one of receptive attention and enough self-confidence to resist the temptations of peer pressure. A child with a home honed background in an academic subject can become an 'alpha peer' as he or she helps classmates with the subject. If a student is engaged in learning they won't be engaged in clowning. If the other students in the class are not engaged in clowning around in the classroom your child has a much better chance of getting more out of the lesson.

Okay, it is time to be real honest with yourself. You and I have certainly experienced a slack jawed, clueless, glassy-eyed clerk, server, or counter help. After you've gone off on them due to their incompetence or ignorance, how many times have you wondered about the abilities of their parents? You don't really want people thinking about you like you thought about the parents of the clerk with the blank stare. Do you?

I've encountered students with enough false self-esteem to fill an ocean going oil tanker, but they had no academic knowledge and little common sense. Schools are not substitutes for parental interaction, which is where realistic self-esteem and, more importantly, self-confidence should be formed. Schools should be a hub for preparing young people to make their way in the world by following their dreams and talents. Schools should not be a source of trendy methods aimed at fostering empty self-esteem.

Outcome Based Education, New Math, Alternative Education Programs, and Accelerated Education Programs have not seemed to work so far. Schools have fallen away from making basic academic knowledge relevant and I think the results are clear. Our nation's fall from global prominence is clearly shown by our placement in international education rankings. I say again, the Village Idiot seems to have too much sway in education policy making these days. This is one more reason why you, as a parent, must take control of your child's education and monitor it throughout their school years.

Legitimate self-esteem means a child has confidence that they can influence events in their life. Self-confidence means the child can be proud of their achievements and what they know. False self-esteem is based on what they wear, whom they listen to, or what they have gotten away with to brag about. Self-esteem means the child has a sense of purpose-even if that purpose evolves as they grow and discover new things. Self-esteem means the child has the ability to resist the most determined peer pressure attack. Self-esteem means they have a sense of cultural and socio-economic diversity and how everyone has a place in the world. Self-esteem means the child has internal high expectations and will do their best even if the teacher appears too harried and overworked to show individual care about the student. The well-prepared student will make the best effort to succeed both for themselves and for their parents. Establishing legitimate self-esteem in more children will cause less clowning and peer to peer conflict in the classroom. True self-esteem will give the eager learner the self-confidence to ask the next question rather than letting a topic rest when they want to know more.

Whether you are in the kitchen, backyard, or city park, you can count on finding opportunities for teachable moments. Just look around for a story topic such as counting the different stations in the playground area or chocolate chips going into the cookies. Every Friday ask your child for their 'Friday Feedback': What have you learned this week? Every Sunday ask them what they want to do this coming week and plan accordingly.

When your child draws or creates something, take a quick picture with your cell phone so you can share their project with your friends and co-workers. If your computer has a word processing software program you can print out a 'newsletter' that features your child's project. Who knows, you may start a trend among your friends who have young learners. Think what a new generation of well educated citizens can do to for our nation!