As a parent, you wear many hats on behalf of your children. You are a cook, a maid, a gardener, a planner, but most importantly, you are a teacher. Whether you realize it or not, your children are constantly learning from you. They learn from your example and the way that you conduct yourself and communicate with others. Of course, they learn from the time that you spend with them. Try to be more aware of situations where you can teach your children valuable skills and lessons throughout the day. Teaching your children in a natural, everyday way can help them to see how their education, both home-based and school-based, will apply to real-life situations.
Use Cooking to Teach Math
One natural way to teach your children is to involve them in the cooking process. There is a lot of math that happens when cooking, especially when dealing with measurements and instructions. When doubling, halving, or changing your recipe amount in any way, you can teach your children to use conversions, multiplication, fractions, and division to figure out the number of ingredients that you need. There are lots of recipes that are easy enough to make with children that will help you to start the conversation about the usefulness of math.
Use Health to Teach Anatomy
When you take your children to the doctor, use the opportunity to teach them more about the anatomy of their bodies. The nurse or doctor that helps you will probably use some of those anatomical terms anyways, so if you help your children to recognize them, they’ll better understand what they are talking about. For example, talking about your teeth and their importance can make the orthodontist less scary. Educating your children this way can also help them to see how learning about anatomy can help them to take better care of their bodies.
Use the Creative Arts
One of the best things that you can do to help your children become more well-rounded and more widely educated is to share your favorite elements of the creative arts with them. If you enjoy musicals, teach your children about the different musicals and help them to learn the important life lessons that they contain. If you enjoy painting, teach your children about the color wheel, the way that our eyes recognize color, and how those colors can mix in a satisfying way. If you enjoy creative writing, share some of your writing or your favorite books with your children and teach them to appreciate the power of words. Using creative arts in your daily lives can stimulate your children’s brains and help them develop fine motor skills, along with many other benefits.
Never underestimate your influence as a parent. You are more of a teacher than you realize. As you think of creative ways to incorporate everyday learning into your daily activities, you’ll help your children to learn the value of education and see how it is applied in real life. Try implementing these different ideas for teaching to figure out which activities work best for your children.
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