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Jo Dee (Jodee)
| | Posted on Monday, June 17, 2002 - 04:05 pm: |     |
Yes, we've played some of the games. My children love them! It's fun! I also believe it necessary as it will sharpen observations skills. Logical thinking requires sharp observation skills.
The key words, "thinking outside the box", comes to mind. Is the answer always what it appears? No. My dh was reading a joke in a magazine. He asked me first, without the children around. I got it right, my children didn't. Of course, they are younger, but each exposure will help. I know, you want the joke: two women who look identical, have the same parents and were born the same day are interviewing for a job. The receptionist states, "You must be twins." They reply, "No, we aren't." How can this be? Answer, they are triplets (I also mentioned they could be of any other multiple birth situation, quads, quints, etc.) My dh told me to stop it! 
What deadens these skills? Constant exposure to things that do your thinking for you. This applies to most movies and TV. Now, I will state this up front, I am not against mindless exposure from time to time. Actually, if it's not in total bad taste (morality and language, etc. are ok) it can be a good teacher. We can discuss why or why not it should not be a steady diet, including how to determine that. It also helps give a perspective on others. For example, my children always want to know why their church friends do certain things (or like certain things) which I can explain by telling them that a constant diet of "fluff" can fool them into thinking exactly what the show (person, etc.) is trying to get them to think. One of our "favorites" is the constant push of some shows about how children are "smarter" than parents.
Almost anything can help encourage good observation skills. Even as I mentioned above. We must remember to teach our children that Satan is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. We must always be on the look out, even with so called "children's shows". Maybe especially them. I remember when I was a teenager that on "Sesame Street" the letter "G" stood for "Go-Go Dancer".
Even Christian "entertainment" is suspect. I remember "Veggie Tales", the very first one, about Daniel. They had the wrong king at the beginning of the story (Darius was the king when he was thrown into the den, but he was not the king who had the dream.) May seem a little thing, but these are supposed to be truth. I have not seen all of the "Veggie Tales" videos, but as I saw each one, they seemed to get "worse", geared more toward a secular audience and character. I remember when our church did the "Veggie Tales" VBS. What a disaster. Yes, the children LOVED it, but there was no focus on evangelism at all. Yes, it taught good character, but no salvation message at all. Some of the teachers tried to fit one in, but you could tell they were pushing. I'm glad the church leaders listened to us teachers complain about that and made sure it didn't happen again.
I remember when I was in school, I actually believed in evolution. I figured that since I was taught it, it must be true. Yes, I also believed in creation, but I "knew" it must have been something like the "gap theory" or "time was not the same as it is today" type of thing. Even those PBS specials that talk about "millions of years ago before man", our children must be able to say, "No, that's not true. Even if most scientist believe it."
So I said more than I thought at the beginning, and veered off the topic at hand, but my main focus is, we must always observe and discern. Our children must see this in us and be taught to do the same thing. This may mean some exposure to things not as beneficial, as their maturity makes them able. We are all exposed to "fluff" from time to time, if we want to be or not, so we must all learn to discern. Take opportunity, when exposed, to teach your children.
Jo Dee |
Susan (Susan)
| | Posted on Sunday, June 16, 2002 - 05:59 pm: | |
What a great discussion on scripture memorization. I am sure it will come up again very soon (hint, hint), possibly in a discussion question (grin).
Point #2 under the heading Academic Excellence is "Encouraging Observation Skills". (pages A-6 and A-7)
"We observe with all our senses: seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting. The best way to build observation skills is bit by bit, casually, taking advantage of your natural surroundings."
This section gives us ideas about how to encourage and refine our children's observations skills, how to guide them to observe the world around them and pay attention to things going on around them.
[Following examples in parentheses are my own]
Suggestions include:
1. Asking a child to tell the parent everything he can hear right then (a bird outside, the t.v. in the next room, the refrigerator humming, the telephone ringing, etc.)
2. Describe something while looking at it (This apple is red and not quite round, it leans to one side, and has a bruise on the bottom. It is smooth and shiny.)
3. Another suggestion is to cover a number of objects with a cloth and have the child/ren tell you what they are after having a couple minutes to look at the objects before they are covered.
4. Have the child draw a picture of an animal, bird or flower while looking at it, watching for details they might not otherwise notice.
Guided Auditory Observation Tasks
1. Play a game where a child has eyes closed and must point to where a person is in the room while the person moves from place to place.
2. Turn on music and do the first task again, seeing if the child can still identify the location of the person with the background music playing.
3. Dictate a short series of letters and numbers and have the child either repeat orally or write the series down.
The last portion of this section encourages us that we do not need to spend a lot of money on expensive curriculum to do this type of work with our children, and that this type of training could even save their life someday.
Discussion Questions:
1. Have you ever played some of the games mentioned with your children? What other types of games have you played of this nature?
2. Do you think it is necessary to do these types of games?
3. What types of things encourage good observation skills?
4. What types of situations deaden our observation skills?
5. Has there ever been a situation in your children's lives where you can attribute an emergency being avoided because the child was able to observe/perceive the danger in some way using his five senses?
6. How could good observation skills help foster academic excellence in our children?
7. Are there other ways, perhaps more subtle ways than playing games, to encourage good observation skills?
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