General Articles: Teaching Logic at Home School
By Mimi Rothschild
When you teach your kids in a home schooling environment, it may be hard to understand how exactly to present the material to children. Logic is one of those courses that, when taught early in home school, could improve children's ability to think clearly and absorb more of the material presented to them later on.
So how might a home schooling parent present information about logic and be able to take advantage of the opportunity to introduce it into the home school curriculum? It may help to understand what logic is and how it may play a roll to kids who home school.
If you are teaching logic in home school, you may begin learning about logic by understanding the definition. By definition, logic is the ability to distinguish the right path when a variety of paths are presented. It may also mean to be able to choose the ‘right' argument among a group of arguments. The ‘right or wrong' factor may be debated, but the ability to choose right, wrong or the most logical path may be important to home school children later in life.
For example, when home school children are faced with the option to study for a test or to play a video game, children would be able to sort through a logical process. Maybe they will play a few minutes of a video game to relax their mind before they begin to study. Maybe they will take breaks while studying home school assignments to play a video game or study first and play a video game last as a reward. When you develop logical steps in a home school environment, it makes sure that children will not only be able to make the right decision but also be able to work out logical decisions. Home school children that are taught logic don't necessarily have to choose between what they want to do and what they should be doing. When a home school student learns about logic, the answer will be obvious. If there is no time for video games, they will choose the most logical course and choose to study.
With logic, home school students may be able to get through homework assignments easier. Instead of spending time trying to add 48+48+48+48, a child may realize it will be easier to use multiplication and move forward more quickly.
Most people have a form of logic committed to them. To teach logic is to be able to make home school children think for themselves and find easier ways to figure out problems.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling mother, writer, children's rights advocate, and Founder and C.E.O. of home education company Learning by Grace, Inc. She and her husband of 28 years reside with their 8 children right outside Philadelphia, PA.
Rothschild launched Learning By Grace, Inc. because she believed that our nation's public school system has failed parents and students. Learning By Grace, Inc. offers online education through a multimedia-rich curriculum to PreK-12 children across the country and throughout the world.
An accomplished author, Rothschild has written books regarding education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Homeschooling News Café Blog consists of the most current and relevant education news.Electronic reproduction of this article is permitted if content is published unchanged, appropriate credit is given, and the article title links to corresponding article webpage.
