The Right Brain Develops First ~ Why Play is the Foundation for Academic Learning

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The Right Brain Develops First ~ Why Play is the Foundation for Academic Learning

SPhoto credit: Allan Ajifo/flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Did you know that the right brain develops first? It does so by the time children are 3-4 years of age. The left brain, on the other hand, doesn’t fully come online until children are approximately seven years old; hence the first seven years being recognized as such a critical period in child development.

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” ~ Albert Einstein

The left brain’s functionality is one of language, numeracy, literacy, analysis and time. It is the logical, calculating, planning, busy-bee part of us that keeps us anchored in the pragmatic world, and in past and future. The right brain, on the other hand, is responsible for empathy, intuition, imagination and creativity. It is where we wonder, dream, connect and come alive. Through the right brain we dwell in the space of no-time, in being absolutely present. While the left brain is more interested in outcomes or product, the right brain cares much more about process—the journey is what matters, not the destination. 

But there is one more vital piece to understand: The right brain connects us to our boundless sense of being. Being is primary; hence the right brain developing first; hence, human being, not human doing. The left brain is far more interested in doing. Young right-brain dominant children, by contrast, are quite content being.

Understanding this we can better appreciate why play is so important in child learning and development, and why we need to be extra careful with the amount and timing of academic agendas created for children; with how much we emphasize product—what kids have accomplished at school—versus process—who they are becoming and what they feel in their explorations. That the right brain develops first is pertinent information for those in the field of education, as well as parents, regarding what is developmentally appropriate. Pushing literacy and numeracy on children before age seven may just be harmful to their little, developing brains. Without the capacity to use their academic minds in the ways that are being asked can cause children to gain what’s called “learned stupidity.” They believe themselves to be incapable and lose their natural desire to learn.

The push for academia on children is a symptom of a society that is left brain dominant, or forgetful of the wonderful playground that is the right brain. It’s an indicator that we feel safer within the literalness, control and certainty of the left brain, far more than in the unquantifiable and mysterious nature the right brain connects us to.

You cannot measure the qualitative aspects of imagination, empathy and intuition; but, of course, you can measure the aforementioned practical detail-oriented functions associated with the left brain. Yet the more we push those things that can be measured onto children, the more they will grow up feeling like they don’t measure up!

Read the rest of the article here: https://www.vincegowmon.com/the-right-brain-develops-first/?fbclid=IwAR3Bm8ZlB17DqCGZxeqL5cKqOimoWC1OqkARwx89omy2F5eyuF_4760Mc8U

Here is a TED Talk guaranteed to provide inspiration and more practical knowledge on the matter. Enjoy!

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Check out Vince’s book: Let the Fire Burn ~ Nurturing the Creative Spirit of Children, A Children’s Book for Adults

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Needing help for your home schooling journey: https://hef.org.nz/2011/needing-help-for-your-home-schooling-journey-2/

And

Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:

Information on getting started: https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

Information on getting an exemption: https://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-what-is-it-all-about/

Exemption Form online: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-exemption-form-now-online/

Beneficiaries: https://hef.org.nz/2013/where-to-for-beneficiary-families-now-that-the-social-security-benefit-categories-and-work-focus-amendment-bill-has-passed-its-third-reading

CURSIVE: REASONS IT IS STILL RELEVANT TODAY & THE SCIENCE BEHIND IT

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 By JacquelineS

Cursive: Reasons It Should Be Taught Today & the Science Behind It

SWhen I was in first grade, Mrs. Scherger, my soon-to-be 2nd grade teacher told me, “Here at Trinity, we learn cursive in 2nd grade, so starting next year, you’ll be able to read anything written by anyone, even the Constitution.” That was an exciting, mysterious prospect to me because at that time all I knew was the print in my readers.

Now, under the Common Core State Standards Initiative for “best educational practices”, it states that “cursive is no longer required to be taught” and instead will be replaced by keyboarding.

In Killing Cursive Is Killing History HuffPost has this to say: “Not only can this generation not read or write cursive, they can no longer even sign their names. They write everything, including their own names, in block letters. Signing your name has been a proof of identity for hundreds of years. Those who could not sign their names would have to make their mark in front of witnesses. Contracts, mortgages, wills and all manner of other legal documents require our signature. What will the future bring for people who cannot put their signatures to documents?”

OTHER SIDE EFFECTS:

What is being missed here – what many educators do not realize – is that by learning cursive: 

  • you were not just learning how to communicate in another font
  • you were building neural pathways necessary to stimulate brain activity that enables vision-motor control and language fluency necessary for cognitive development, learning, reading, sports, socialization and everyday tasks


REASONS CURSIVE SHOULD BE TAUGHT:

THE SCIENCE FOR COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Fine motor skills are the building blocks our brains need to connect and make sense of the world around us. Cursive is a great example of many specializations taking place at once.

Cursive combines:

  • tactile information (touch/sensation)
  • hand-eye coordination
  • movement control (fine motor dexterity)
  • visual integration
  • directing movement by thought, and
  • thinking simultaneously, in a fullness that print alone does not


Jackie’s Note: here is a printable list of 30 ways to help your boys (and girls, too!)!

Understanding and knowing how to form letters on lines at a certain shape and size, at a certain angle, in real time and space comes through the fine motor control of the hands and arms. Cursive handwriting naturally develops sensory skills, as they are called, by taking advantage of a child’s inability to fully control their fingers. (source)

Neurologist Frank Wilson wrote in his book, “The Hand: How its Use Shapes the Brain, Language, And Human Culture”, “teachers should not try to educate the mind by itself. If educators continue to dissolve the disciplines that involve the hands and the body in full movement (as in active play), much of the knowledge will be poorly processed and inadequately learned.”

Pin It! Pin It!

Cursive: Reasons It Should Be Taught Today & the Science Behind It

Read more here: https://deeprootsathome.com/reasons-cursive-should-be-taught-science-behind-it/?fbclid=IwAR3WRfYqFIsJTAZo8qryATJc_gVpNk_xATcuwEaBFRi8h5mOWtjrzIdt2W0

In the above link is more on:

THE SCIENCE ON CURSIVE

CURSIVE HELPS IN DYSLEXIA:

HELP IN FOCUS (BOYS AND GIRLS):

and more

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Needing help for your home schooling journey: https://hef.org.nz/2011/needing-help-for-your-home-schooling-journey-2/

And

Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:

Information on getting started: https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

Information on getting an exemption: https://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-what-is-it-all-about/

Exemption Form online: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-exemption-form-now-online/

Beneficiaries: https://hef.org.nz/2013/where-to-for-beneficiary-families-now-that-the-social-security-benefit-categories-and-work-focus-amendment-bill-has-passed-its-third-reading




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Harvard Study Shows the Dangers of Early School Enrollment

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Harvard Study Shows the Dangers of Early School Enrollment

Every parent knows the difference a year makes in the development and maturity of a young child. A one-year-old is barely walking while a two-year-old gleefully sprints away from you. A four-year-old is always moving, always imagining, always asking why, while a five-year-old may start to sit and listen for longer stretches.

Children haven’t changed, but our expectations of their behavior have. In just one generation, children are going to school at younger and younger ages, and are spending more time in school than ever before. They are increasingly required to learn academic content at an early age that may be well above their developmental capability.

In 1998, 31 percent of teachers expected children to learn to read in kindergarten. In 2010, 80 percent of teachers expected this. Now, children are expected to read in kindergarten and to become proficient readers soon after, despite research showing that pushing early literacy can do more harm than good.

In their report Reading in Kindergarten: Little to Gain and Much to Lose education professor Nancy Carlsson-Paige and her colleagues warn about the hazards of early reading instruction. They write,

When children have educational experiences that are not geared to their developmental level or in tune with their learning needs and cultures, it can cause them great harm, including feelings of inadequacy, anxiety and confusion.

Read the rest of the article here: https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/article/harvard-study-shows-dangers-early-school-enrollment?fbclid=IwAR1iQ7v0x9HdKDztrqqxoVBjEDMPVH6RzkV5oZcMRcJMY20gIzkVwe4bQAQ


Needing help for your home schooling journey: https://hef.org.nz/2011/needing-help-for-your-home-schooling-journey-2/

And

Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:

Information on getting started: https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

Information on getting an exemption: https://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-what-is-it-all-about/

Exemption Form online: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-exemption-form-now-online/

Beneficiaries: https://hef.org.nz/2013/where-to-for-beneficiary-families-now-that-the-social-security-benefit-categories-and-work-focus-amendment-bill-has-passed-its-third-reading

Teach Your Youth How to Read Their Bible

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One of the most important tools you can give your teenage children is to teach them how to read and study their Bible. Here are some steps for you and your kids to learn to do this together.

JEN WILKIN | DEC 28, 2018

Parents contact me frequently to ask what devotionals or young adult Bible studies I would recommend they do with their teens. As our kids enter the teen years, our responsibility as their parents is to help them develop good habits of interacting with the Bible. Finding an approach that is age-appropriate and manageable is key. My encouragement is to simply read the Bible with your teen in a way that models and trains Bible literacy—no special teen resource required.

Your teen will be exposed to devotional content and topical studies at every turn, and they likely don’t need a resource that is targeted specifically at their demographic. What most are missing are basic tools to help them read and learn the Bible on their own. By guiding them in some basic study methods, you can position them to use devotional and topical material with far better discernment and far greater benefit, as those types of resources assume a first-hand knowledge of the Bible that many teens have not yet developed. Here is a simple approach that you can adapt to fit the age of your teen:

Read the seven approaches that you can adapt to fit the age of your youth here: https://www.tvcresources.net/resource-library/articles/teach-your-teen-how-to-read-their-bible?fbclid=IwAR1j4nzYh4peYQG2DEAMEMS4bayCFBg4-LHczDea8gYVhjx1Fl-kzQFlWLw

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Needing help for your home schooling journey: https://hef.org.nz/2011/needing-help-for-your-home-schooling-journey-2/

And

Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:

Information on getting started: https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

Information on getting an exemption: https://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-what-is-it-all-about/

Exemption Form online: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-exemption-form-now-online/

Beneficiaries: https://hef.org.nz/2013/where-to-for-beneficiary-families-now-that-the-social-security-benefit-categories-and-work-focus-amendment-bill-has-passed-its-third-reading

Survey: Parents overwhelmingly support school choice, distrust federal government

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FILE - School bus (Colorado)

American families aren’t accessing the school types they prefer and do not trust the federal government, according to results of an annual report “Schooling America”, produced by EdChoice, a national nonprofit organization that promotes state-based educational choice programs.

The majority polled overwhelmingly support Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), tax credit scholarships, school vouchers and charter schools.

The survey asked public school parents and the general public about their views of the four types of educational systems in America: public schools, charter schools, private schools, and home schooling. It also asked respondents about their views of the federal government’s role in K-12 education.

The majority of parents are involved with public school districts, the report found, with 89 percent having children who attended public school for at least one year. This percentage mirrors the data reported by the U.S. Department of Education, the report notes. Current public school parents are generally satisfied but at least one-third reported “major issues” with their schools’ responsiveness, communication and support outside the classroom.

EdChoice, which argues that families, not bureaucrats, are best equipped to make K-12 schooling decisions for their children, found that the majority of those polled do not trust the federal government when it comes to education.

Read the rest of the survey results here: https://www.watchdog.org/national/survey-parents-overwhelmingly-support-school-choice-distrust-federal-government/article_edacf2ec-03c9-11e9-963f-c3ca67c5bf2f.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share&fbclid=IwAR3FOhGXKrqhTtCUjqg7lUj0RYdo4e7BXHxgJH5oQRGhvR6jopDPU1eDWrM

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Needing help for your home schooling journey: https://hef.org.nz/2011/needing-help-for-your-home-schooling-journey-2/

And

Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:

Information on getting started: https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

Information on getting an exemption: https://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-what-is-it-all-about/

Exemption Form online: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-exemption-form-now-online/

Beneficiaries: https://hef.org.nz/2013/where-to-for-beneficiary-families-now-that-the-social-security-benefit-categories-and-work-focus-amendment-bill-has-passed-its-third-reading