How important is the environment a child is educated in?

What do you think is the best environment for your child to learn in and do you put much effort into specifically creating surroundings that encourage learning?

I think environment plays an important role in the education of a child, but it is not as complicated or as expensive as one might think.

First, you need an environment that is fairly well organized. If you cannot find the glue when you are doing an art project or when getting to your math segment requires a massive math book search (ask me how I know about these things-LOL), it is hard to provide a good education for a child.

We got rid of television and used our tv/vcr (now DVD) for educational videos and an occasional entertainment video. We limited the amount of time spent on this activity, though.

Board games and card games are inexpensive and fun to do for family time. My little ones learned colors and numbers playing Uno. Teachers tell me they can tell which children have and play board games at home and I believe them.

Different types of puzzles to help them learn to develop their spatial reasoning. Also, we did splurge and get some math manipulatives and science experiment equipment.

Books. My children considered a good book to be a treasure as a gift. When they moved out, their book collections were the first thing they packed. We also let them each subscribe to a magazine so they would get mail, which was fun. Library cards are free and you can go and get a fresh supply of books every week or two.

Craft supplies. Crayons, markers, glitter, glue, colored feathers, old catalogs and magazines, We also eventually got them each a sketchpad and drawing pencils, pastels, ect. And for awhile, we did ceramics at a local craft shop as a family. There is a good basic book on drawing by Bruce McIntyre that is not super fancy or expensive, but has good information. Also, books from the library on drawing were good when we were working on this.

A good reference section. We bought a used set of encyclopedias from the library  for twenty five dollars and also had a couple of dictionaries (a children's dictionary and one that was harder), a thesaurus, a current world atlas, a historical world atlas, and a "History of the World" book. We had other books in there as well, depending on the children's interests.

Music. Music was an important part of our environment. I bought the classical kids collection and some Wee Sing stuff to start out with. We listened as we rolled along in the car and also at home. My mom gave us a piano and the children learned how to play it. They both had the opportunity for lessons. The oldest child took to them, the younger one did not, but taught herself to play when she was around thirteen. I usually had classical music playing softly in the background as we did our schoolwork. It kept distractions to a minimum.

We also had other fun stuff. I gathered various outfits from garage sales and assembled a dress up trunk (I had two girls) for imaginative play acting. They loved those little perler beads and growing crystals. I sew and they each learned how to do that, but neither of them like to do it.

I think the biggest deal was getting rid of the tv and doing other stuff with the time we freed up from that....

Well, we do like our tv! videos, dvds. lots of the books relate to the shows like blues clues , richard scarry, his counting videos etc are great.   I have always had lots of books around for the kids. I have some board games (candyland, blueclues) but since they are 3 & 5, it is not the best at the moment to play with. so I have been getting games like pop up pirate where the 3 yr old can play and rules aren't so important.  We have reg. cards, go fish, old maid etc, leapfrog, power touch, educational computer games etc.  I believe in non electronic toys mostly. Have lots of old fisher price.. castle, houses etc plan to set up the whole town.  Have newer fp like noah's ark and the zoo. baby einstein videos, books, mother goose books. of course the computer is big now.

lots of arts and crafts, dress up, cars, lego, blocks, thomas the tank engine tracks etc, dinosaurs, animals,  lots of puzzles my dd loves puzzles ever since she was very little,  balls, have a swing set, climbing structure, ring toss, balls, sand box etc outside.  have lots of parks around, free swimming at the inlaws.

We also go to lots of playgroups where there are toys, circle time, crafts etc in the past, not as much since they are at school but they still get a lot of it. of course the library.  I sign them up for short programs like the after school  art one my dd is going to for 6 weeks. plus at both grandparents they have books and toys.  Also the exposure of general learning with friends for example the bird club when it was going, and visiting friends with lots of animals.  everything has education in it, even counting going down the stairs.

For us, the best educational environment would include, modeling, encouragement, clear expectations, and accountability.

 

 I believe that the environment a child learns in plays a large part in their ability to focus and learn.

That being said, we have a poor learning environment at this time. I find the clutter and disorganisation that we currently have makes it hard for us all to focus and stay on track. The children and I do experience frustration during the day when trying to find materials, move around and keeping the table from tilting while completing work.

How about limit time on the monitor for kids I sen them spend hours on it instead of doing home work,same goes for limit time on the cell phone kids can learn how to do anything when they are yountg....:0)

cynthia

 It took me a long time to truly understand that education was not going through the process of education as we have been taught, but to know/learn how to learn.

Grammar and math are mostly oral work and other subjects are reading from books. I keep the projects small in terms of space needed or we take them outside.

My son's education has been hard won for him and he has to catch up now if he wants to get into college and meet his goals for his life. So taking any more time off isn't an option.

One of the biggest issues we have is noise distraction and touching. "Maaaa, she's kicking me"   "Maaaaamaaaa, he touched me". The table is so small, we do touch and bump elbows or accidentally kick each other if we shift. That sends the ability to focus right out the window. It's a small area so any amount of noise is an issue. Pushing on the table will cause it to tilt over spilling books, paper and whatever is on there.

We have considered the lap desk option. We tabled the idea when we went house hunting and haven't had the funds to reconsider that idea.

 Gigi,

 We cover only the essentials with our oldest. She is not academic and detests having to do schoolwork so this at least offers a foundation for adult life, I hope.

My son is thirteen. He wants to graduate at seventeen and turn his attention to college. He plans to take two years of college and then join the Navy. He hopes to retire from the military and then open a martial arts school.  

He has made a request in his own desire to get where he wants to be. He has asked if we could afford to use Bob Jones for his high school years because he worries that our current curriculum won't give him the academic background he needs and he says he wants a challenge in the areas he excels in. He goes beyond what I offer in science and history as he does his own research and reading.

I worry that his learning struggles and health issues will leave him very disappointed but he says he would rather try and be denied than never try at all.