I attended a ‘Loving Literacy’ workshop at September 21 recently, in conjunction with their 15th anniversary. You may want to read about my first encounter with the educational resources specialist.

We had a fun and engaging speaker in the form of Victoria Carlton, founder of International Centre for Excellence in Perth. She shared with us some useful tips on how to encourage our children on their life-long learning journey…

1. Create a conducive learning environment

Children learn best in an environment that’s stress-free, fun, and filled with love. Love? Yes, it’s like a brain booster. Kids thrive on love, and knowing that they can’t lose this love no matter how badly they fare gives them the confidence to explore, learn, and make mistakes.

Also, remember that young brains need good doses of daily exercise and sufficient sleep to function at their best. And may I add a good wholesome breakfast

It sounds pretty obvious, but I think we tend to overlook these things sometimes.

2. Encourage journal-writing

The practice of journal writing actually increases your intelligence! How so? Well, it requires you to reflect on your experiences, helping you to learn from them and remember them better. So…don’t wait. Encourage your kids to keep a journal as soon as they start writing.

I suppose blogging counts too? But, there’s something timeless about putting pen to paper, and writing in your favourite notebook…don’t you think?

3. Read good books

Foster a love of reading good-quality fiction from a young age. (Better still, model it yourself!) Fiction books help to create a secondary world where kids can pick up creativity and problem-solving skills. We should pick out books that are well-written and creative, and try to read them aloud to our children.

Here are some of her suggested reads for children:
Falling Angels, Colin Thompson
I Took the Moon for a Walk, Carolyn Curtis
T is for Terrible, Peter McCarty
Fantastic Mr. Fox, Roald Dahl
The Toymaker and the Bird, Pamela Allen

Do you have a favourite book to share?

4. Give them room …

To be different. To learn at their own pace. To do things unconventionally. To invent. To tear apart (within certain limits). To be creative.

How many times have you told your child to color the apple red, and the leaf green? I’ve done that countless times! When they are older, they will learn the right order of things anyway, so allow them to be creative, and watch how beauty can happen.

Every child learns differently. If you find yourself getting frustrated with your child and wondering why, perhaps it’s good to evaluate his or her learning styles, and changing our approach accordingly. In Victoria’s words, “each child is a gift to the world, and we need to find out how we can nurture this gift.”

It’s often tempting to compare our kids to others…whenever you face this, remember that your child has his own unique set of strengths and weaknesses, and it’s up to us to develop them to their potential.

5. Make learning an adventure!

While there is a time and place for rote learning and memorizing ABCs and 123s, kids learn best when they’re having fun! Bring them to experience the great outdoors. Turn everything into a game, such as ‘I spy with my little eye something that begins with ‘A’, and see how many things your child can spot. Or encourage them to write their own adventure novel, or make up their own song. Who knows? You might have a future writer/singer in the making.

How do you try to make learning an exciting experience for your child?

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Personally, my major take-away from the workshop was the homework that she asked us to do…

-> Create your own story as a family.

Now, that really got me excited. And I can’t wait for the kids to grow a little older, so we can embark on our own family tale!

I hope you managed to take away something valuable from this sharing too…