tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post7887500273070286021..comments2024-03-20T00:30:11.702-07:00Comments on Home Education Heretic: More autonomous "education"......Simon Webbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865289865412656573noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-37005414629388366842009-08-16T07:31:15.414-07:002009-08-16T07:31:15.414-07:00My 5 year old daughter spontaneously began to use ...My 5 year old daughter spontaneously began to use full stops recently when writing. (she cannot yet read, she copies the words she is interested in writing) This writing convention has never been formally shown to her, she has learned it through watching me write, looking at books being read to her, etc. etc. The driving force in children, and adults for that matter, is to learn the skills they need to live in the society around them. If they see something often enough, they assume it to be of importance and attempt to learn it, when they are ready to. My daughter has discovered full stops, she has many years ahead of her to learn about capital letters, commas, etc. It does not have to be rushed or pushed in a prescribed manner. My daughter also recently learned to do a forward roll on her own, quite late compared to her age contemporaries. She choose to do so when she felt ready to, but being a physical skill no one suggested pushing her before she was ready to do so. There is no reason why academics should not be treated in the same way, other than generations of people growing up in school environments absorbing the belief that if academics are taught a particular way and with a particular emphasis in the classroom it must have been proved to be the best way of doing things for all children. No such proof exists but a large body of evidence does suggest that it fails a lot of children.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com