Nurturing Wonder (Part One)
By Sandra Devera & Angel Alderson

 

"That's stupid."
"That's boring."
"Who cares about that. It's not like I'm going to need to know any of this!"
Ever hear your children say such things? Do you wish you could get them to realize that "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy?" (Hamlet, Act I, Scene 5).

In the delivery room we're handed a tiny human being who is already equipped with curiosity, wonder and the capacity to explore, examine and test. As home educators, our task is to not "squash" our children's innate talent for learning while at the same time helping them develop the skills they need to be life-long learners. There are three ways we can do this: reward wonder, encourage questiong, and promote perserverance. In this issue we'll address the first aspect of keeping a child's natural wonder alive.

REWARD WONDER

The American Heritage Dictionary describes the intransitive verb form of wonder as "to have a feeling of awe or admiration; to marvel, to be filled with curiosity or doubt."
This starts in infancy as you share your child's exploration of the world. As adults it's easy to slip into the role of "baby cop" because we're setting boundaries and trying to keep the toddler alive while coping with the rest of the family's problems. But if your pre-schooler is hearing nothing but "no" you may have to choose to leave the vacuuming or the ironing undone and spend some "wow... look at the (flowers, stars, bugs, puppies, bubbles, finger paint, shadows, sunset, etc.) time.

Don't think your teenager doesn't need some wonder moments, too. The fun thing is that they usually generate them and the sad thing is we're often too busy or tired to reward them. As parents, our challenge is to get our heads out of the deadlines and the bills long enough to discuss artificial intelligence or the length of rat canines with our teens. Taking a walk with your teen or having them in the car with you when you run errands is a great way to both have time for "wondering" together and still get something done off your to-do list. Sometimes you both need to go wonder at the beach or the mountains together but let your teen choose the topics and be prepared to be amazed and awed yourself at what's going on in their minds.

Most wearying are the grade school years when children fire off crazy notions so fast you feel you're under intellectual Uzi fire. Our experience is that homeschool students think WAY farther outside the box than other children their age. It's important for you as the parent educator to refrain from putting down the "impossible notions" and keep your children from criticizing original thinking as "stupid" or "weird". Some children will pick up the worldly defense "that's boring" when confronted with a new idea. What they are really saying is, "I'm threatened by that because it's not what I want to do and I don't see anything fun about it for me." Something is boring when it is tediously repetitious. If your child finds a subject like math or history or grammar boring it may be because the workbook they have is repetitious or because they need to approach the subject from a different perspective. But God did not design anything in the world to be boring and children have to learn to be bored (pre-schoolers are hardly ever bored - they can find playing with their shoes fascinating).

Encourage wonder, by providing your children with opportunites to think creatively. If there's going to be original thinking and creative developments in the next generation it needs to be encouraged by this generation. Most of all, when your child is awed, amazed, fascinated, or impressed, share that sense of wonder with them and you'll be nurturing their desire to learn more.