Have you ever watched and listened to a group of children at
play? It is wondrous to watch a child's imagination at work. Cardboard
boxes become houses, cars, boats, or whatever else is needed. A pile of
dirt could become a road or a mountain, or maybe even a cake or pie with
a little water added.
Watching a group of children playing together, you find that the same games you played when you were a child are still being enjoyed today. You hear cries of "Tag! You're it" and watch children counting slowly to 100 while their friends run to find the best hiding places. Shrill voices calling "red rover, red rover" and "Ollie, Ollie oxen free!" echo through the summer evenings.
These games have been passed down from one generation to the next because they are fun. Kids continue to enjoy them and also learn from them. The children learn how to work in a group and follow the rules. They learn that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but you can have fun either way.
Psychiatrists for decades have stressed the importance of play in childhood. When children play it helps with their development and contributes to their cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being.
As children play with their friends, they learn how to communicate effectively. By the time a child is five years old, he knows around 2000 words. That means that he has learned about one word a day for every day of his life. That's pretty impressive! And the most remarkable thing is, nobody made him do it - he did it because he wanted to.
The importance of play in a child's development is very well documented, so naturally you might assume that our educational system would make use of this essential tool. Sadly that is not the case. There is very little that is playful about a child's school day. Instead, it is typically very regimented, with little time for anything resembling play. Children who find it almost impossible to be still for five minutes are expected to sit still and quiet in desks for hours at a time.
Not only is school just plain not fun for most kids, it's so time consuming that they struggle to find time to play when they are not at school. If you subtract the hours required for school, homework, and sleep, children have only about 6 hours left each day to eat meals, take care of personal hygiene, spend time with family and friends, and play. And many kids have even less time because they're scheduled into piano lessons, dance classes, or sports. These things are great but they cut into the little bit of time children have for unstructured play.
Many parents are doing the math, and listening to the experts. They have realized that their children are missing out on the most important part of their childhood. These parents have taken control and begun keeping their children at home to educate them. The growth of home schooling is a positive step for the well-being of not just our children but our nation. When children are given the time to dream and imagine, they become adults that have these abilities. Most great inventions come from the minds of men and women who know how to tap that inner greatness that resides in all of us.
An academically sound education, social opportunities, and play are not mutually exclusive. Kids really can have it all. With the advance of technology, there are ways to provide your child with a great education while still allowing him to play and develop their imagination.
Watching a group of children playing together, you find that the same games you played when you were a child are still being enjoyed today. You hear cries of "Tag! You're it" and watch children counting slowly to 100 while their friends run to find the best hiding places. Shrill voices calling "red rover, red rover" and "Ollie, Ollie oxen free!" echo through the summer evenings.
These games have been passed down from one generation to the next because they are fun. Kids continue to enjoy them and also learn from them. The children learn how to work in a group and follow the rules. They learn that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but you can have fun either way.
Psychiatrists for decades have stressed the importance of play in childhood. When children play it helps with their development and contributes to their cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being.
As children play with their friends, they learn how to communicate effectively. By the time a child is five years old, he knows around 2000 words. That means that he has learned about one word a day for every day of his life. That's pretty impressive! And the most remarkable thing is, nobody made him do it - he did it because he wanted to.
The importance of play in a child's development is very well documented, so naturally you might assume that our educational system would make use of this essential tool. Sadly that is not the case. There is very little that is playful about a child's school day. Instead, it is typically very regimented, with little time for anything resembling play. Children who find it almost impossible to be still for five minutes are expected to sit still and quiet in desks for hours at a time.
Not only is school just plain not fun for most kids, it's so time consuming that they struggle to find time to play when they are not at school. If you subtract the hours required for school, homework, and sleep, children have only about 6 hours left each day to eat meals, take care of personal hygiene, spend time with family and friends, and play. And many kids have even less time because they're scheduled into piano lessons, dance classes, or sports. These things are great but they cut into the little bit of time children have for unstructured play.
Many parents are doing the math, and listening to the experts. They have realized that their children are missing out on the most important part of their childhood. These parents have taken control and begun keeping their children at home to educate them. The growth of home schooling is a positive step for the well-being of not just our children but our nation. When children are given the time to dream and imagine, they become adults that have these abilities. Most great inventions come from the minds of men and women who know how to tap that inner greatness that resides in all of us.
An academically sound education, social opportunities, and play are not mutually exclusive. Kids really can have it all. With the advance of technology, there are ways to provide your child with a great education while still allowing him to play and develop their imagination.
Free World U is a unique accredited school with a captivating
method of instruction that allows children to learn up to seven times
faster than traditional education. Free World U gives students the
opportunity to earn credit while learning material that is relevant and
important to them in addition to the regular academic subjects. Free
World U provides freedom of choice, offering four different programs in
an effort to fit needs of everybody who would like to attend.
Free Registration. Try it out today.
http://www.freeworldu.org/static/index.aspx
http://www.freeworldu.org/static/BasicFree.aspx
Free Registration. Try it out today.
http://www.freeworldu.org/static/index.aspx
http://www.freeworldu.org/static/BasicFree.aspx
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