Danette’s Reviews > Homeschooling: You're Doing It Right Just by Doing It > Status Update

Trying to keep up will never work. We must purposefully choose to slow down, to watch the clouds go by and listen to the birds sing. To read novels of daring adventure and make messes in the kitchen. It takes a long time for us to become who we are, and homeschooling gives all of us, parents included, the time to do so.

Adults must use the skills they have where children can see them…Children need to get some sense of the processes by which good work is done.
John Holt

Kids need several hours of unstructured physical play daily to adequately stimulate and integrate sensory pathways; they need secure attachment to caregivers, plenty of touch, and varying levels of environmental stimulation that support calm alertness during the day and restful sleep at night. They also need conversation with adults, contact with nature, and creative outlets, such as music, art, or dance.

The question is not - ‘how much does the youth know?’ when he has finished his education - but how much does he care? And about how many things does he care?

I find myself worrying most that when we hand our children phones, we steal their boredom from them. As a result, we are raising a generation of writers who will never start writing, artists who will never start doodling, chefs who will never make a mess of the kitchen, athletes who will never kick a ball against the wall, musicians who will never pick up their aunt’s guitar and start strumming.

Let children experience boredom; there is nothing healthier for a child than to learn how to use their own interior resources to work through the challenges of being bored.
Nicholas Kardaras