Not Every Moment Needs to Be a Teachable Moment
If you have been homeschooling for more than five minutes you have met the mom I am writing about in this post. You know her. She is the one that turns every moment into a teachable moment. Did her little sweetheart fall and get hurt? She isn’t just going to put a bandaid on it. She is going to teach her child about how blood turns bright red once it is exposed to air. She isn’t just going to go to the grocery store. She is going to stop at every item and teach her child how to count quantity and price. Ok, so you might know her… Or you might be her. Did you know that not every moment needs to be a teachable moment?
Not Every Moment Needs to Be a Teachable Moment
I joke, but there is a mom out there exhausted because of making every moment teachable. Do you know how I know? I was this mom. Every moment needed to be a learning moment. I constantly tried to make everything educational. We couldn’t just cook dinner. We had to have a Math lesson. It was exhausting! Every moment I was in teacher mode. Can I tell you a secret? It’s not necessary!
There are beautiful moments when education is the priority. Then there are moments when I just need to get things done. It’s amazing! When I backed down from trying to make every moment educational I was able to finish things. I was able to get the dishes done. I was able to do laundry. I was able to get out of the grocery store in a hurry. It was so liberating.
Even better, the kids still learned! They still watched what I did and why I did it. They still helped me cook. They took on their chores. By taking away the constant pressure for everything to be a learning experience they were able to enjoy the times we spent focused on learning. If you are trapped in the teachable moment cage, don’t let it hold you prisoner. You can take a deep breath. Let the kids experience their world. They will learn more from living in their world and interacting with it than they will by every moment being a lesson plan.
I can hear you now. You are giving me the reasons why it’s ok for you. You are giving me reasons why it’s needed. I am not here to debate you. I will tell you this, start with one thing. Don’t stop altogether. Leave out one teachable moment a day and replace it with getting something done. I won’t say it will change your life but it may give you a little peace.
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Great reminder. I too feel I overwhelm myself by trying to make every moment a teachable moment sometimes!
It is so true that we need to back down from downloading our teachable moments on our kids. Learning is natural and is happening all the time; that is liberating as a homeschool mom –especially one who needs to get laundry folded and meals prepped!