Accommodation or Crutch?

Do you individualize your homeschool to meet needs?

It used to drive me batty that my daughter always wanted to do her math away from the table. She’d sprawl on the floor, like above, or curl up in the couch, or stand at the kitchen counter. Anywhere but the table. You know what I noticed? When she did math where she wanted to do math, she could more easily solve the problems.

My son always wanted to listen to music while he worked. I thought it was a distraction. Turns out, WE (my daughter and I in the next room) are the distraction and he works better with music on. Like, ridiculously better.

I think it’s hard sometimes to let go of all the conditioning we carry as parents. Its REALLY hard for my husband, Mr. Conformity, to see them working and not say anything, because “What’s going to happen when they go to work? They can’t listen to music all the time or do their paperwork in the lunchroom!”

No, they most likely won’t be able to, depending on their career field of choice. BUT I’ve also seen both children manage without these accommodations and do just fine.

I mean, we don’t make children who are learning to walk let go of the table because they won’t always have a table around them. We don’t stop children learning to write from printing large letters on large paper because they won’t always have large paper to write on. We don’t stop rocking a child who can’t sleep because they won’t always be small enough to rock.

My point is, why make something harder for them all the time, to prepare them for something we can’t predict? Wouldn’t it make more sense to allow them their supports now, while they are building the foundation, so that when they have to pull the skill out as a tool, they will know it well enough they won’t NEED the accommodation?

I don’t know.

I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I think I’m on to something here…

Until next time,
Marina