[ˈtēCH ə bəl mō mənts]: the moments that arise without prior notice or planning and whereby offer significant opportunities to explore a new area of research. Often, the points learned during such instances are likely to be remembered well. These occasions arise frequently but are often overlooked.
Or, maybe it goes like this:
[ˈtēCH ə bəl mō mənts]: those moments we overlook because we are too busy following our planned our curriculum; the occasions that happen around us when our noses are stuck in the textbooks and teacher planners; the “ew”, “gross”, “not right now”, “you’re not old enough” instances we fear. These occasions arise frequently but are always overlooked.
Finding and allowing teachable moments to happen is sometimes the toughest thing. We have expensive curriculum we’ve purchased and need to get through. We have schedules and activities planned for after school hours and we must finish our work before we get in the car. We have mandated topics to discuss.
We have. We must. We can’t.
These are all things I’ve said when I’ve found myself trying to reign in the kids and bring them back to the school table. But I have also scrapped my plan for the day – or part of the day – to follow the leading of my kids and their learning. Sometimes, the moments even happen during our free hours or weekends.
Child-Led Teachable Moments
The most recent teachable moment happened after their October candy haul. For some reason, my daughters have developed this system of rules for themselves which prevent them from eating any Halloween candy until they graph their collections. They attended the fall parties over the course of three days without eating a single piece. (What they don’t know, won’t hurt them….don’t tell them we ate some after they went to bed!)
Once their collections were complete, the rulers and pencils were brought out and their candy was spread out all over the table. Charts, lines, categories . . . all math concepts we use frequently . . . were all being put to use without a single assignment given or the slightest whimper about doing their math homework. It was fun to watch them figure out how to make their graphs represent the candy stash.
Adult-Led Teachable Moments
Other times, however, the teachable moment needs to be facilitated by the adult to help the child see something new they’ve not seen before. This happened today. With all of the leaves fallen from our huge sugar maples lining the driveway, I could easily see a little bird’s nest barely sitting on the very tallest and tiniest branch. I pointed it out to the girls and we watched for a few minutes before we climbed out of the car. As if it was perfectly timed, the male and female blue jays flittered around the nest and we figured out the owner of the nest. This three or four minute conversation launched the kids into an entire afternoon of bird watching from the kitchen window – complete with binoculars, bird identification books, bird seed and stale popcorn to draw them to the porch and more graphing. Then, their new art set arrived in the mail and the first oil pastel masterpiece was of one of the birds observed today.
It’s why we do what we do.
This is one of the greatest reasons we homeschool – so that we can do at our own pace. Sometimes that means we get through 3 math lessons because they grasp it so quickly, while other days require us to repeat the same spelling lesson for three days until it’s understood. Today, that meant we paused our chemistry lesson and took the afternoon to capture a teachable moment and run with it.
It’s real life, folks.
Capturing teachable moments is like a dress rehearsal for growing up. As adults, we are constantly researching home or car repair instructions or prices, trying to figure out investments and retirement, home buying, and other fields we have little background instruction. When we capture these moments, we are teaching our kids how to research and learn on their own – something they will need to do for the rest of their lives.
Teachable moments are loaded with potential.
And my personal, greatest reason for slowing to a pace which allow for teachable moments to arise is the potential for the next topic to be life changing for the kids. The skills learned while spur-of-the-moment baking are life-changing, as are trail-trekking, time with the elderly, dropping plans to help someone in need, and anything else that comes up.
So how do we find these teachable moments?
For me, it requires paying close attention to the kids. It means I have to slow down and look to my lesson plans for a guide or skeleton on which other topics can be discussed at a moment’s notice. It means opening up the laptop and looking for a great online video that explains a topic further. It means exploring an interesting topic and finding ways to learn more about it while hitting more than one classroom subject. It means asking yourself, “How can we use this topic in math? In spelling and writing? In science? In history? In library research?”
Lindsay Banton is a caffeinated mother to three great kids. She never expected to homeschool, but has found that it is a wonderful addition to their lifestyle and wouldn’t change it for the world. In addition to homeschooling, Lindsay works alongside her husband in campus ministry at a large university in Connecticut. She grew up in Virginia but has settled into life in New England, learning to love the long winters, cool springs, green summers and gorgeous autumns- and has built a boot collection to meet all the demands. She is currently blogging at www.oaksreplanted.blogspot.com