TWO GENERATIONS OF HOME SCHOOLING

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Another basic teaching principle I've adopted is that trying to push a child into learning, against his or her will, can be counterproductive. The youngster may get balky (a healthy assertion of that person's right to individuality). Worse yet, such forcefulness may — by its inherent implication that something is the matter with the child because he or she doesn't want to learn the lesson — cause the youth to lose self-confidence.

I've found it better to let my children make their own decisions about what to study, so they learn — in the process — to trust their own minds. Naturally, any young person will occasionally make mistakes in such choices . . . but he or she will very likely learn from the errors themselves, and also gain practice in making decisions (at an age when the consequences of poor judgment are usually not yet terribly serious).

Sometimes, a child will have real difficulty comprehending a subject. In that case, realize that you may be presenting the information in a manner that doesn't suit the particular student ... that the youngster may be ignorant of some essential basic facts . . . that he or she may not yet be ready to learn the specific subject ... or that your pupil's brain simply may not be designed to understand the material. In any such situation, either try a different instruction approach or hold off on the topic for a while and switch the lesson to some other area.

On the other hand, if a subject doesn't appeal to your child at all, you should try to discover the reason for his or her lack of interest. After all, humans are naturally curious (as anyone knows who has watched an infant earnestly studying his or her toes and nightie to learn how to distinguish baby from nonbaby!). But, just as the right teacher or book can make any subject interesting, by the same token inappropriate instruction or material will make any topic dull.

Last, I believe that high-quality career counseling may be essential whenever a child's natural interests and abilities do not eventually become obvious. But be sure to judge any potential advisors carefully. (I can, as a result of my own experience with the firm, recommend the Johnson O'Conner Research Foundation ... which has offices in a dozen major American cities.)

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