Published here with permission from The MOORE REPORT INTERNATIONAL - May/June 2002

The Moore Foundation, Box 1, Camas, WA 98607

Questions and Answers

Educating a Young Mind

by Ellen Dana

Q. My daughter will complete Kindergarten at a local charter school in two weeks. Unfortunately, her wonderful, warm, experienced, patient and much-loved teacher has been fired in "corporate" fashion, along with every other teacher at the school who has been there a long time. I think this shows that the administrator of the school clearly has her values topsy turvy, and I have decided not to let her return there for the first grade.

I seriously need guidance, information, and any other help you can give me in deciding what to do about her education. I read much of your web site and agree with your philosophy. I have two major concerns. One is that I have absolutely NO talent for teaching. I can't seem to explain anything well, even though I myself understand it clearly. The second is that I can't spend many hours daily in a traditional teaching role for my child. But I can involve her in virtually everything I do. Because of my lack of confidence in my teaching abilities, part of me thinks I should put her in another public school part-time and home school her part-time. Yet I have major concerns regarding the quality of public school education and its influence.

Will your program work for us? My daughter is very smart, artistic, and sweet. I asked her what achievement she accomplished this year that she was most proud of and, although she has received awards, good grades, and learned to read, she said, "Being a good girl." I want to protect and cultivate these traits, yet her education is of utmost importance. Thank you in advance for any help you can give me.

A. I don't get a picture of any problem at all. If you were going to teach a learning different child, maybe one that has been identified as ADHD, for example, then you might have something to worry about. But you are telling me about a child who is sweet, gets awards, and seemingly has little problem learning.

Please understand that the premise of the Moore Formula is that we will not be pushing a child under 10. That means that while your daughter may have school materials that you can work with, if she doesn't understand something that you present or that the books tells about, that could well mean she is not ready for that material. Only reading, phonics, math and writing fall into the skill areas where concepts must be learned before you move on. The joy of it all is that the academically oriented child (the one who is "smart") usually matures into those skills -- if you don't push. In other words, it's something you don't need to really be concerned about. It's more like observing her catch on to concepts, watching her mature into her skills. If you are comfortable with that concept, then you will have no problems doing the kind of education we suggest.

The "content" subjects -- social studies, science and Bible, are topics that you can study all you want. Young children love to learn about far away places, how things work and why, and the Scriptures. As you center on those things, you will find that the skill subjects will come along too. Yes, we have help for the skills subjects, like GameWay to Phonics and Reading that allows the child to learn in fun, active ways and without stress, and we will help you when you get stuck on something.

Enrolling with us will help you tremendously. I suppose you noticed the enrollment forms in the catalog? If you have any struggle with how to fill them out or want to check on something, you may contact our office - 360-835-5500 or email: generalinfo@moorefoundation.com.