“Every student can learn, just not on the same day or in the same way.” ~ George Evans
Forcing your child to learn is never the right answer; encouragement and motivation is the way to go. If you want your child to observe and learn things spontaneously, it is your job to provide them with an environment that is educating and engaging, that gives them ample learning opportunities.
Encourage Your Children’s Inner Curiosity
It’s a child’s nature to be curious about the world. Without curiosity, there is no learning. It is the way for children to learn by asking hundreds of questions in a day.
To stimulate the thirst for knowledge in your children, actively answer their questions and offer them more knowledge about the subjects. This will appease their curiosity and kindle their interest in new things, making them more intrigued about learning and knowing the unknown.
“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.” ~ Dorothy Parker
5 Ways to Motivate Them to Learn Through Different Methods
Some ways that will help you change your children’s life to stimulate more self-learning and spontaneous learning are:
1. Create A Book-Reading Environment
Children who develop a habit of learning have proven to absorb more information on their own. Learning is directly associated with reading. Children who love reading have a love for learning. Similarly, children who dislike reading do not take an interest in learning new things.
Develop an environment that encourages reading. For example, read some storybooks to your children or a session where the whole family reads for 20 minutes every day. Start with reading books that interest them and then gradually give them books that contain knowledge about the world and bring out their fascination by telling them exciting facts or something interesting about something you want them to read.
You can also encourage them by giving them your example, show them your interest in reading, by reading books near them and telling them knowledgeable facts and inspiring quotes from the books; this will prompt them to read more.
2. Understand the Different Types of Learning
There are different types of learning styles, and every child has a distinct style. These types include seven basic styles: Visual, Verbal, Auditory, Physical, Social, Logical and Solitary.
Understand the type of learning style that your children have and provide them with the means to learn by their style. For example, children who have a visual learning style learn by watching things and how they work. Similarly, children with a verbal style of learning absorb the information that they say. It’s easier for them to retain the knowledge that they say out loud.
Some children have a mix of learning styles. They retain knowledge by different methods, like observing their surroundings, vocalizing the things they learn and hearing the information their teacher taught them.
3. Cheer Their Progress
When they learn something new, encourage them and cheer them on their progress on understanding something new. This would also have a great psychological effect on your children. Seeing you happy with their achievement motivates them to magnify their learning effort and make you proud. This also tells them that you care about them more than their performance.
Instead of focusing on their grades and test scores, ask them about what they learned at school. When they tell you what they learned at school, it will solidify their learning experience and tell you that your children retain the knowledge they were taught.
4. Stir Up Communication
As mentioned before, pacify your children’s curiosity by communicating with them. Encourage them to ask questions and share their opinions about their favorite or least-liked topics. When children feel validated and know that their opinions matter, they feel important and discuss their opinions and ask questions without fearing judgement or discouragement.
Likewise, when a child is discouraged, he/she feels like their opinions don’t matter, or when their questions remain unanswered, they withdraw from learning and disengages. This way, the child will run away from learning instead of embracing it.
Communication plays a huge role in a child’s life. Without proper communication and encouragement, children won’t be as open to learning. Create an environment that is welcoming when it comes to communication with children. Motivate them to share their outlook on things they find appealing or things they find unexciting.
5. Prioritize their Interest While Learning
If you want your children to learn on their own, then begin by providing them with knowledge about the thing they find interesting. If they are interested in cars, get them books that have exciting knowledge and facts about cars. Ask them their favorites and ask them to explain their reasons for choosing those cars.
When children learn about something they are interested in, they gradually start developing the thirst for more knowledge about stuff that is similar to their interests, after cars they will ask you about truck and step by step their interest would shift towards trains and then it will be the turn for air planes. This way, they learn more and still stay interested in the information they are gathering.
“You cannot make people learn. You can only provide the right conditions for learning to happen.” ~ Vince Gowmon
Make Learning Fun
Another way for making your children learn new thing is through the games they play. When you make learning fun, they get compelled towards garnering more knowledge. When you show them that you’re excited and enthusiastic about learning something new, you’ll pique their curiosity, and they will also show their excitement in learning the same thing.
When children play different games that promote learning, they gather the most information. For example, if you want your child to learn spellings, then playing spelling games like scrabble will make them interested in learning more spellings. In order to keep your children engaged during learning, the best method is to turn the teaching into entertainment. Children offer more enthusiasm and focus when they are playing as compared to when they know they should be studying.
In Closing…
These are some ways to keep your children attentive during learning while encouraging them towards self-directed learning. These simple steps motivate them to learn independently by observing their surroundings, and they absorb more knowledge and learn new things spontaneously.
“Tell me, and I forget. Teach me, and I remember. Involve me, and I learn.” ~ Benjamin Franklin