Our son plays video games. People have an issue with this. I can tell by their snide remarks that they think he should be in a different sport every season. Really? Hmmm. I wonder how many parents are subconsciously living through their children? But enough about them. So what do we do? We allow our son to play video games. You heard me. We do not have a problem with this. Why not? Well, for one, he does have other interests. Secondly, he doesn’t play 24/7. And thirdly, he LEARNS, yes, I said LEARNS from his video game play.You see he is constantly solving puzzles through his game play. He has excellent eye/hand coordination that has allowed him to be a skilled stunt kiter when we go out to the beach to play. He has learned new vocabulary words. And he has gotten hooked onto a new book series through a video game he enjoys.
He came up to me this afternoon and said, “Mom, I want to start reading a new book series, I just found out that Lemony Snickets started out as a book series! Can we get the books?” I was excited even though I did tell him it was a book series 2 years ago. I even showed him a couple of the books at Half Price Books, but he wasn’t interested and didn’t really "hear” me at that time. But today he was ready. Levi has taken the initiative to start a whole new series of books he can read for fun and it came through his enjoyment of a video game. Now, I suppose I can do a search on “required” or “recommended” literature for 5th graders and see what the experts (that do not know my child) suggest. Then I can force Levi to read those books that will possibly bore him to tears so we can be in the "in crowed” with the public school system, family members, or even other homeschoolers. Or, I can pay attention and listen to my child when he is naturally ready and more than willing to learn. God created us to learn and absorb. We do not have to force learning on our children.
I found a used copy of the first book in the series at Amazon for a few bucks. He was so happy to read the little excerpt Amazon has available as you “Look Inside”. Then he made a mini calendar to count off how many days until his book arrives. He was doing math on his own and happy to be doing it. Again, God created us to learn and absorb. We do not have to force learning on our children.
“It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for what this delicate little plant needs more than anything, besides stimulation, is freedom. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty.”
~Albert Einstein
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