Hi, I am Kathy Matthews, and I want to welcome you 00:00:30.61\00:00:33.42 to Thinking About Home, we've been discussing family 00:00:33.45\00:00:36.84 life naturally and we're gonna be talking about the 00:00:36.87\00:00:40.31 role of the home in learning and motivation and 00:00:40.34\00:00:43.78 Dr. Jim Tucker from Andrews University, 00:00:43.81\00:00:45.88 professor of education psychology at Andrews 00:00:45.91\00:00:47.93 University is with us again today. Welcome Jim, I am 00:00:47.96\00:00:51.50 sorry. It's my pleasure. We want to go over some of the 00:00:51.53\00:00:56.29 things that we talked about I would like to anyway and 00:00:56.32\00:00:59.80 some of those things were context, challenge and style 00:01:00.32\00:01:05.04 and preference, that we've talked about last time and 00:01:05.07\00:01:07.47 learning naturally and I will have another question, 00:01:07.50\00:01:12.51 because we didn't get all of our material finished and we 00:01:12.54\00:01:16.73 would like to catch up on that or not leave that out. 00:01:16.76\00:01:19.59 What are some of the effective ways that parents 00:01:19.62\00:01:22.18 can assist their children in learning naturally? Well 00:01:22.21\00:01:25.03 first of all and I've often say that, if I were able 00:01:25.06\00:01:30.30 to give parents or teachers for that matter. One gift, I 00:01:30.33\00:01:34.72 could just give them one gift, it would not be money, 00:01:34.75\00:01:37.69 it would not be longer life or whatever. It would be 00:01:37.72\00:01:40.99 the honest belief that everyone of their children 00:01:41.02\00:01:46.13 is gifted. Gifted in every sense of that word, 00:01:46.16\00:01:53.00 typically we think of gifted as being a relative term. 00:01:53.03\00:01:58.05 Smarter then somebody else, my child is gifted or 00:01:58.08\00:02:02.65 somebody else's child is gifted and this other child 00:02:02.68\00:02:05.88 is not. Umm! But the way I view children, the way I 00:02:05.91\00:02:09.76 view a family is that. The family is a unit and every 00:02:09.79\00:02:14.46 member of that family, every member of that unit is a 00:02:14.49\00:02:17.75 gift. Umm! And they have gifts that are unique, that 00:02:17.78\00:02:22.08 can be developed to the fullest. So, a family needs 00:02:22.11\00:02:26.83 to start there and then surround itself. The family, 00:02:26.86\00:02:33.11 mother, father, parents, surround themselves with an 00:02:33.14\00:02:36.89 environment that allows that gift to blossom, to bloom. 00:02:38.07\00:02:40.29 Umm! To develop naturally and I feel and I think there 00:02:40.32\00:02:46.61 is abounded evidence to support, the best way to do 00:02:46.64\00:02:50.94 that is to provide a natural environment from the out of 00:02:50.97\00:02:54.79 doors, bringing the out of doors in, taking the family 00:02:54.82\00:02:58.08 out of doors, a natural learning setting. Umm! And 00:02:58.11\00:03:03.25 what about the expectation of the parents toward the 00:03:03.28\00:03:06.13 child, you said to it, just to see them as a gift. Well, 00:03:06.16\00:03:10.86 if you believe, your children are gifted. Yes, 00:03:10.89\00:03:13.44 what about view for the parents. Then you will 00:03:13.47\00:03:15.97 automatically have high expectations. Yes. We know 00:03:16.01\00:03:18.48 for example from some research that's been done, 00:03:18.51\00:03:21.36 for quite a numbers of years now. That the single most 00:03:21.39\00:03:29.08 powerful force in motivation is high expectations. If 00:03:29.11\00:03:34.71 parents honestly believe, that their students are 00:03:34.74\00:03:38.94 smart and will do well, that belief somehow transmits to 00:03:38.97\00:03:45.25 the child in a very powerful way and the child will do 00:03:45.28\00:03:49.65 better. Not just by verbal, not just by saying. No it's 00:03:49.68\00:03:52.77 the belief, that does it. Something about you 00:03:52.80\00:03:55.21 happens, something happens to you, yes, because you 00:03:55.24\00:03:57.32 believe it. If parents, you know God forbid, that 00:03:57.35\00:04:00.54 parents would say, Oh, this is a verbal behavior. I must 00:04:00.57\00:04:04.72 tell my child, you're gifted, you're gifted. Aha. 00:04:04.75\00:04:07.74 That won't do it. Umm! It has to be a belief, now how 00:04:07.77\00:04:10.64 do you get that belief. You know, Kathy I really don't 00:04:10.67\00:04:14.03 know how you get it, except from God. I think this is 00:04:14.06\00:04:17.45 probably something we only obtain from the Holy Spirit 00:04:17.48\00:04:21.00 from God by praying for it. Umm! Saying God, you 00:04:21.03\00:04:25.41 know, no matter how I feel, no matter what I think on a 00:04:25.44\00:04:28.34 day to day basis, please sanctify my attitude toward 00:04:28.37\00:04:32.17 my child. Toward my child. Yes. You know I can relate 00:04:32.20\00:04:34.79 to that, I have someone that I was just, motherly talking 00:04:34.82\00:04:39.90 to recently. One of her heart breaks over that, she 00:04:39.93\00:04:44.00 came in one day and she was in a group where there were 00:04:44.03\00:04:47.25 children and her family and children and she came, later 00:04:47.28\00:04:51.17 on she was crying and we were talking and she said, 00:04:51.20\00:04:53.74 I just don't, I just don't have the good feelings 00:04:53.77\00:04:58.33 toward my children. Umm! And, what is that conveying. 00:04:58.36\00:05:02.05 Yeah. Yeah and she was hurting because of that and 00:05:02.08\00:05:07.53 she wanted to know how to love her children and not 00:05:07.56\00:05:12.59 just see their faults. Well the source of love, those 00:05:12.62\00:05:15.85 true feelings. Umm! Is only God. Umm! That's not 00:05:15.88\00:05:18.88 something we can get from therapy. Umm! It's not 00:05:18.91\00:05:21.28 something we can get from wanting or wishing, it can 00:05:21.31\00:05:24.80 only come from the source of love. Umm! What are 00:05:24.83\00:05:27.07 some of the qualities now that the learning and 00:05:27.10\00:05:29.88 motivation that should be considered by the parents 00:05:29.91\00:05:31.76 and teachers. I don't understand, I don't 00:05:31.79\00:05:35.83 understand it. Well, we, what are some of the 00:05:35.86\00:05:38.87 qualities of learning and motivation that should be 00:05:38.90\00:05:41.15 considered by parents and teachers learning naturally, 00:05:41.18\00:05:45.29 only it happens doesn't end in the affective nature God 00:05:45.32\00:05:50.14 given environment. Well, I believe that's true. Yeah. 00:05:50.17\00:05:53.74 If you place a child, if you surround a child with lots 00:05:53.77\00:06:01.80 of things. Umm! The child begins to believe in things. 00:06:01.83\00:06:06.31 Okay. If you surround a child with opportunities, 00:06:06.34\00:06:11.40 the child begins to believe in opportunities and you 00:06:11.43\00:06:15.58 can get confused. Umm! About things being 00:06:15.61\00:06:19.58 opportunities, but when you take the child out into the 00:06:19.61\00:06:24.16 woods. It is surrounded with an abundance of 00:06:24.19\00:06:27.64 opportunities to think, to do, to act, to run and to 00:06:27.67\00:06:32.55 play or to lay down and stare at the sky. Umm! 00:06:32.58\00:06:35.34 That's different and it does different things to the 00:06:35.37\00:06:40.52 mind, to the brain, to the nerves, to the physical 00:06:40.55\00:06:43.79 body, then surrounding the child with stimulating 00:06:43.82\00:06:48.68 artificial learning tools. Umm! Well, you have a list 00:06:48.71\00:06:58.61 of things that we can talk about on what are some of 00:06:58.64\00:07:01.82 the natural learning characteristics, would you 00:07:01.85\00:07:04.67 start helping us with that. Sure. Right. Probably one 00:07:04.70\00:07:10.55 of the most, no it may well be the most abused natural 00:07:10.58\00:07:19.94 characteristic of learning. Everyone learns at a 00:07:19.97\00:07:23.61 different rate. Okay, you're talking about rate 00:07:23.64\00:07:26.30 of time. Yeah. Their time of learning. The amount of 00:07:26.33\00:07:29.41 time it takes for a student to learn a given thing. Umm! 00:07:29.44\00:07:33.49 Like the multiplication facts or like the books of 00:07:33.52\00:07:36.89 the Bible or whatever. Right. It takes different 00:07:36.92\00:07:39.46 people, different amounts of time. Umm! Even if you 00:07:39.49\00:07:42.83 allow for breaking it down into chunks and teaching 00:07:42.86\00:07:46.94 just a little bit at a time, it's still everybody is 00:07:46.97\00:07:49.60 different. Umm! Even if you allow for the fact, as we 00:07:49.63\00:07:52.63 talked about last time that some students are, or some 00:07:52.66\00:07:57.21 children are auditory, some are verbal, some are visual 00:07:57.24\00:08:01.91 and some are tactile, it's, they're still, there is 00:08:01.94\00:08:05.02 difference in rates. Umm! And kids can't be rushed, 00:08:05.05\00:08:08.81 learning cannot be rushed. It has to, it has to emerge 00:08:08.84\00:08:13.30 with an inner motivational force that is gonna vary by 00:08:13.33\00:08:17.52 the individuals. So, you can't have a classroom where 00:08:17.61\00:08:21.37 everybody is on the same page marching systematically 00:08:21.40\00:08:24.35 through a text book and all getting to the same place at 00:08:24.38\00:08:27.24 the end. At the same time. That probably won't work 00:08:27.27\00:08:29.99 for any member of that class. Umm! And the idea 00:08:30.02\00:08:34.49 that we think it might is a shame. Umm! Well that's 00:08:34.52\00:08:38.86 pretty strong language, you must have something to back 00:08:38.89\00:08:41.73 it up. Absolutely. Yeah, you've been gone through a 00:08:41.76\00:08:44.13 lot. I know and studied this subject, I suppose. 00:08:44.16\00:08:49.50 Thoroughly. Thoroughly, and what about priority? We only 00:08:49.53\00:08:57.37 learn those things which are important and different 00:08:57.40\00:09:02.76 things emerge at different times. This is a 00:09:02.79\00:09:06.84 developmental issue as well, as a value issue. Umm! Some 00:09:06.87\00:09:11.57 children for example develop earlier than others and 00:09:11.60\00:09:17.24 they're able to perform certain skills sooner than 00:09:17.27\00:09:20.68 others, it has nothing to do with intelligence, it has to 00:09:20.71\00:09:23.15 do with development and when they're able to do 00:09:23.18\00:09:26.07 things. They value them. Umm! They have a higher 00:09:26.10\00:09:28.67 priority. Umm! But typically an assignment is made to 00:09:28.70\00:09:34.04 everyone, everybody is gonna do the same thing. Right. 00:09:34.07\00:09:37.40 One student or one child may say, oh I will, this is fun, 00:09:37.43\00:09:41.68 we're going to have a good time. The rest of them or 00:09:41.71\00:09:44.62 the next one might say this is boring or I already did 00:09:44.65\00:09:47.73 this. Umm! Or this is too hard. Yes. And it might in 00:09:47.76\00:09:51.44 fact be too high. Umm! Or too hard. Right. This is 00:09:51.47\00:09:55.15 different from rate, even if you're doing the things at 00:09:55.18\00:09:59.42 the proper rate and giving enough time, it has to be 00:09:59.45\00:10:02.47 something the student values. It's important, I 00:10:02.50\00:10:05.47 remember one of my sons wanted to learn to read and 00:10:05.50\00:10:10.42 he was only three. And he learned a few words and then 00:10:10.45\00:10:14.44 he strung a few words together in sentences and we 00:10:14.47\00:10:18.02 were very excited about them, you know wow this is 00:10:18.05\00:10:20.39 great and naturally any parent is excited. As soon 00:10:20.42\00:10:23.56 as he learned how to do that however, still being three, 00:10:23.59\00:10:27.10 he wasn't interested anymore. He didn't want to 00:10:27.13\00:10:30.16 read anything else, he didn't wanna do anymore 00:10:30.19\00:10:33.31 reading. Umm! For another year or so. Right. And then 00:10:33.34\00:10:37.50 he came back to it, picked it up and it was valuable to 00:10:37.53\00:10:40.83 him and he went and today he just reads voraciously, 00:10:40.86\00:10:44.68 now he is a college student. Supposing, we had said as a 00:10:44.71\00:10:49.61 three year-old aha. He is a precocial genius. Yes. He 00:10:49.64\00:10:55.76 can do this wonderful thing. We need to exploit it, so we 00:10:55.79\00:10:59.87 want all the neighbors to know and Michael read, read 00:10:59.90\00:11:03.96 for this, read for this, read for that, show them how 00:11:03.99\00:11:06.67 you can read and pushing, pushing, pushing. Umm! 00:11:06.70\00:11:09.98 We know from again abundant research that that 00:11:10.01\00:11:13.54 often turns students, children totally against 00:11:13.57\00:11:17.62 reading for sure. Umm! And learning, you're forcing 00:11:17.65\00:11:21.35 them to do something they're either not ready for or they 00:11:21.38\00:11:23.81 don't value. Umm! On the other hand, the next child 00:11:23.84\00:11:27.82 after Michael, he never was interested in reading until 00:11:27.85\00:11:32.02 he got to school and then suddenly, well, dad, mom, 00:11:32.05\00:11:37.60 look at this reading thing, I am really interested in 00:11:37.63\00:11:40.28 that. There is a whole world of words out there. That's 00:11:40.31\00:11:41.70 right and it couldn't stop him, there was no break. 00:11:41.73\00:11:44.16 They might be, you might be thinking or some of the 00:11:46.80\00:11:49.64 people watching might be thinking. Well, do you just 00:11:49.67\00:11:54.07 let students emerge, learn whatever they wanna learn, 00:11:54.10\00:11:57.84 when they wanna learn it, isn't it important to 00:11:57.87\00:12:00.15 sometimes teach him stuff, whether they want to or not. 00:12:00.18\00:12:02.87 Yes. Yeah, it is, in reality. Well, that's part 00:12:02.90\00:12:07.19 of my thoughts. That's well, that's right, there in life, 00:12:07.22\00:12:10.53 there are things we're not perfect. If I were a perfect 00:12:10.56\00:12:14.54 parent then this really natural idea, which is based 00:12:14.57\00:12:19.50 on creation, based on my understanding of God's true 00:12:19.53\00:12:25.49 way of learning and based on what I know about research 00:12:25.52\00:12:28.15 and learning. If I were a perfect parent then all 00:12:28.18\00:12:31.62 these things would emerge, emerge naturally and also if 00:12:31.65\00:12:35.20 there wasn't a negative power out there, trying to 00:12:35.23\00:12:37.70 thwart everything I was trying to do. Coming along 00:12:37.73\00:12:40.60 behind me sometimes when I didn't even realize it and 00:12:40.63\00:12:43.84 undoing the things I had done. Umm! If we were in a 00:12:43.87\00:12:46.77 perfect environment, which the Garden of Eden probably 00:12:46.80\00:12:49.67 was and in which heaven will be, that would work, we need 00:12:49.70\00:12:53.49 to get as close to that as we can. But there are gonna 00:12:53.52\00:12:56.21 be times, when we don't do it right. Yes. And when the, 00:12:56.24\00:13:00.21 something needs to be taught simply because it's 00:13:00.24\00:13:04.23 time to learn it and you got to get it and that's the way 00:13:04.26\00:13:06.71 it is. Right. So I am not opposed to that and I don't 00:13:06.74\00:13:09.26 wanna be assuming that everything is roses and you 00:13:09.29\00:13:11.79 should be feeling guilty if you're kids don't just 00:13:11.82\00:13:13.93 naturally blossom into learners. Right, because I 00:13:13.96\00:13:16.95 was thinking how, you have to apply yourself on math or 00:13:16.98\00:13:20.88 those kinds of the areas where you must learn 00:13:20.91\00:13:23.18 multiplication, of course we talked about there is the 00:13:23.21\00:13:25.30 time where that might come much more easily and more 00:13:25.33\00:13:29.24 with much more interest than other time. But supposed we 00:13:29.27\00:13:32.47 missed that time. Yes. Then you still gonna learn it. 00:13:32.50\00:13:35.50 Yes. And it becomes, then there are some easier ways 00:13:35.53\00:13:37.96 to do it, but and you still use the motivation, you know 00:13:37.99\00:13:41.01 Kathy why does everybody always use this math, that's 00:13:41.04\00:13:43.02 the example. I don't know probably because it's the 00:13:43.05\00:13:46.91 thing that we have most difficulty with and I don't 00:13:46.94\00:13:49.50 know. And I think there is a reason for that, well 00:13:49.53\00:13:51.91 because we don't teach math well. We teach it only as 00:13:51.94\00:13:55.74 wrote memory thing and we wait too long to do that. If 00:13:55.77\00:14:00.18 we let math concepts emerge. Umm! In the kind of 00:14:00.21\00:14:04.24 Montessori way. Umm! You know if we just let it 00:14:04.27\00:14:06.82 emerge, there are kids who absolutely adore and love 00:14:06.85\00:14:11.58 learning all the details of math. Umm! Well what 00:14:11.61\00:14:15.73 makes them different, partly because they are simply 00:14:15.76\00:14:18.66 different, but also partly because the methods that we 00:14:18.69\00:14:21.46 use to teach. Are different. Are different and they work 00:14:21.49\00:14:25.30 for this group but they don't work for this group, 00:14:25.33\00:14:27.89 so we need to vary the way we teach in the way, in 00:14:27.92\00:14:31.65 terms of the way kids learn math. Math can be fun at all 00:14:31.68\00:14:34.61 stages. You know, I remember a learning several 00:14:34.64\00:14:37.31 years ago of a method that was used with dominoes. 00:14:37.34\00:14:40.93 Umm! And just teaching them into immediately 00:14:40.96\00:14:44.65 identify the dots, numbers by the dots and that child 00:14:44.68\00:14:48.95 could much more easily grasp math if they would just 00:14:48.98\00:14:53.40 play dominoes. Yes. Is that something that you 00:14:53.43\00:14:56.55 would agree with. Some children that works very 00:14:56.58\00:14:59.34 well for. What about getting in the kitchen and learning 00:14:59.37\00:15:01.50 your fractions. That's one of the best ways to learn 00:15:01.53\00:15:04.31 fractions is cutting up an apple and eating a quarter 00:15:04.34\00:15:07.17 half of of it or an eight of it or an half of it, yes. 00:15:07.20\00:15:09.69 Some of those things. That makes it experience. And 00:15:09.72\00:15:11.39 then you talked about music, because of the keyboard, and 00:15:11.42\00:15:14.80 what they had to learn. The number lying on the 00:15:14.83\00:15:16.85 keyboard and also the fractions of notes and how 00:15:16.88\00:15:19.12 you actually bring that in through the auditory as well 00:15:19.15\00:15:22.65 as the tactual, as well of the visual, that's 00:15:22.68\00:15:25.41 you're using. A Multi Avenue. That's right Multi 00:15:25.44\00:15:28.34 Sensory is always more powerful. Umm! And it 00:15:28.37\00:15:30.61 makes it more fun. Umm! Well, what about then skills 00:15:30.64\00:15:34.71 or lets backup when learning is natural it builds on 00:15:34.74\00:15:38.85 prior experience, right. Everything we learn, we 00:15:38.88\00:15:42.95 learn on the basis of what we already know. 00:15:42.98\00:15:44.78 Knowledge. Yes, prior knowledge. Prior knowledge. 00:15:44.81\00:15:47.23 And the first question that a teacher or a parent should 00:15:47.27\00:15:51.19 always ask, when they wanna teach something else, when 00:15:51.22\00:15:55.10 they wanna to teach something, is what is 00:15:55.14\00:15:57.04 already known, what does the student already know and 00:15:57.07\00:16:00.77 then take that basic fundamental, that foundation 00:16:00.81\00:16:04.44 and build on it, little bit at a time. Prior knowledge 00:16:04.47\00:16:08.77 is absolutely fundamental. That reminds me of another 00:16:08.80\00:16:13.06 course that I was looking at, because we've home 00:16:13.10\00:16:14.89 schooled and it had do with phonetics and I remember the 00:16:14.93\00:16:20.79 teacher saying, who taught the course, don't expect 00:16:20.83\00:16:23.78 anything out of the child you haven't already taught 00:16:23.81\00:16:27.18 them, why would you do that? Absolutely. To them. 00:16:27.22\00:16:30.94 Yes, yes. You know, you know So, what about skills? 00:16:30.97\00:16:34.63 Skills sometimes as parents, we want our students to have 00:16:34.66\00:16:42.36 certain skills and sometimes we want them to have the 00:16:42.39\00:16:48.37 skills we had or the ones we value. Right, we want them 00:16:48.40\00:16:54.35 to have. Yeah, and there are skills that students, that 00:16:54.38\00:16:59.41 all students should at least try for and probably 00:16:59.44\00:17:03.16 achieve. The basic skills and those skills. Would be. 00:17:03.19\00:17:09.60 Well the basic skills, reading, writing arithmetic, 00:17:09.63\00:17:12.44 those kinds of skills. But, we also want them to have 00:17:12.47\00:17:14.85 skills in thinking. We want them to have skills in 00:17:14.88\00:17:18.14 listening; we want them to have skills in speaking. Want 00:17:18.17\00:17:23.82 them to have skills in getting along with others. 00:17:23.85\00:17:26.05 Yes. We want them to have skills in accomplishing, in 00:17:26.08\00:17:31.96 a problem solving process and getting something done. 00:17:31.99\00:17:34.77 How do you approach, and study skills. Umm! We want 00:17:34.80\00:17:38.85 them to have those skills. Right. Which is a natural 00:17:38.88\00:17:43.59 part of learning, but you don't get the skills by 00:17:43.62\00:17:47.62 simply saying today we're gonna get this skill. Umm! 00:17:47.65\00:17:51.52 Furthermore, when you learn a skill by an inker and you 00:17:51.55\00:17:55.75 again prior knowledge, learn a little bit more then you 00:17:55.78\00:17:58.89 need to rest. Some Johns Hopkins Research reported 00:17:58.92\00:18:03.13 last year, said something really interesting. Kids 00:18:03.16\00:18:07.43 need to rest for six or more hours not less. After they 00:18:07.46\00:18:12.35 have mastered a certain skill and the brain then 00:18:12.38\00:18:15.29 needs to rest for six hours or more. Then you come back 00:18:15.32\00:18:18.54 to it and do it again and the learning is more 00:18:18.57\00:18:21.67 efficient then if you went ahead and continued to 00:18:21.70\00:18:25.12 practice it. Now, when you say rest, you don't 00:18:25.15\00:18:27.43 necessary mean lay down and rest, they could change 00:18:27.46\00:18:29.72 activity, right. That's what I mean, the brain needs to 00:18:29.75\00:18:31.90 rest from that skill. That activity. Needs to change to 00:18:31.93\00:18:34.63 a very different thing. Umm! And you know like that's 00:18:34.66\00:18:37.94 why we have, that's why we used to have what we called 00:18:37.97\00:18:39.97 recess or physical education or gardening or anything, 00:18:40.00\00:18:44.22 change the activity from mental to physical to social 00:18:44.25\00:18:49.06 to mental so that there is a balance and the balance 00:18:49.09\00:18:53.13 is what we're looking for, for natural learning. Umm! 00:18:53.16\00:18:56.49 I was thinking of journalism or riding or expressing 00:18:56.52\00:18:59.22 yourself even as younger child, when they have paper 00:18:59.25\00:19:01.85 to write. If they can't think of everything they 00:19:01.88\00:19:04.16 need, to stop and then go and comeback again. If 00:19:04.19\00:19:06.79 you're painting. Yes. And you, if you're wanting to do 00:19:06.82\00:19:09.40 something and you just can't get it right, to stop and go 00:19:09.43\00:19:12.45 and then come back again. Yes, how many times have 00:19:12.48\00:19:15.09 you have been grappling with a problem and you didn't 00:19:15.12\00:19:17.42 know how to solve it. Your mind is at fever level. 00:19:17.45\00:19:20.64 That's right and you either slept over night or you went 00:19:20.67\00:19:23.07 off and did something totally different and you 00:19:23.10\00:19:25.25 came back to it and bingo. And there was the answer. 00:19:25.28\00:19:27.68 Yeah. Yes, the mind continues to process even 00:19:27.71\00:19:32.16 when we're not thinking. Okay, what about fun, we 00:19:32.19\00:19:36.11 are learning at a natural way, it involves emotions. 00:19:36.14\00:19:38.77 What about fun. Fun we're only now beginning to learn 00:19:38.80\00:19:43.52 what that means. Umm! Up until recently maybe the 00:19:43.55\00:19:48.01 protestant ethic said fun is negative. Umm! But now 00:19:48.04\00:19:53.30 we're beginning to find out that you only learn those 00:19:53.33\00:19:56.31 things which you enjoy or which have some emotional 00:19:56.34\00:20:01.85 impact, there are three levels to the brain. There 00:20:01.88\00:20:04.91 is the brainstem which keeps your automatic system 00:20:04.94\00:20:08.36 going, there is the midbrain where most of the emotions 00:20:08.39\00:20:11.88 and or other kinds of nonconscious things happen. 00:20:11.91\00:20:17.39 Umm! Then there is the cortex, where all of the 00:20:17.42\00:20:20.31 synapses occur and the hundred billion neurons do 00:20:20.34\00:20:25.43 their things. Yes. We know as I, I think said last time 00:20:25.46\00:20:31.75 that or the time before that I can't remember what, 00:20:31.78\00:20:34.85 that we need a certain number of repetitions to 00:20:34.88\00:20:37.87 learn a new factor and the number was 35 on the 00:20:37.90\00:20:40.34 average. Umm! And by the way that number goes up, as 00:20:40.37\00:20:43.67 the mental ability comes down and the number comes 00:20:43.70\00:20:47.22 down, as the mental ability goes up. But it doesn't come 00:20:47.25\00:20:49.91 down by much, even gifted students need 25-30 00:20:49.94\00:20:54.67 repetitions, but people will then say and somebody 00:20:54.70\00:20:58.20 listening is probably going to say well, I, something 00:20:58.23\00:21:00.36 happened to me one time and I never forgot it. Right. 00:21:00.39\00:21:02.91 Well that's because there was an emotion attached. 00:21:02.94\00:21:05.32 Emotion involved. That's right. Like music that 00:21:05.35\00:21:07.11 effected us or some sort of thing that was going on in 00:21:07.14\00:21:10.13 our life. When you engage the mid brain, you can 00:21:10.16\00:21:13.10 reduce the amount of practice. Umm! In cortex 00:21:13.13\00:21:16.95 you can get. So that I can get it to engage on a 00:21:16.98\00:21:19.50 regular basis. Well the engaging the mid brain is 00:21:19.53\00:21:22.12 when it's fun. If you can make the learning fun then 00:21:22.15\00:21:25.81 you can reduce the amount of practice necessary for 00:21:25.84\00:21:28.71 cortical activity, that the information learning. You 00:21:28.74\00:21:34.23 can't reduce the number of practices for a physical 00:21:34.26\00:21:38.36 skill, learning to play the piano is not gonna be. 00:21:38.39\00:21:41.22 It's not always fun. No, sometimes you just have to 00:21:41.25\00:21:44.75 teach those muscles. Determination. And the goal 00:21:44.78\00:21:48.04 is the motivation. Right. That's pulling you there, 00:21:48.07\00:21:50.70 but if you have an experience in learning 00:21:50.73\00:21:55.64 information and the experience is enjoyable 00:21:55.67\00:21:59.43 because of who you're doing it with. Right. Or because 00:21:59.46\00:22:03.04 of the method that you're using to do it, such as 00:22:03.07\00:22:06.06 singing the Bible texts, for example, you know that's 00:22:06.09\00:22:09.50 a good example. Umm! Learning Bible texts, until 00:22:09.53\00:22:12.20 we discovered the singing, when I was a kid we 00:22:12.23\00:22:14.32 memorized them without songs. Right. And it was 00:22:14.35\00:22:16.50 tough. Then along came songs and my kids learned 00:22:16.53\00:22:19.70 them like that and I learned them in the process. 00:22:19.73\00:22:21.90 Yeah, I did too. Just by singing them and that was 00:22:21.93\00:22:24.30 wonderful, but that says it's fun, its multisensory 00:22:24.33\00:22:28.14 but it's also fun. Singing is fun. Memorize saying 00:22:28.17\00:22:32.53 the same thing over and over again is not fun 00:22:32.56\00:22:34.88 unless there is something fun about it. Or a goal 00:22:34.91\00:22:38.32 down there that makes you want to really go for it. 00:22:38.35\00:22:40.80 Yes, and that goal maybe, may make it more fun, at 00:22:40.83\00:22:44.98 least it will give it an emotional response. 00:22:45.01\00:22:47.23 Satisfaction. Yeah. But Jim not every class can be fun. 00:22:47.26\00:22:51.38 Well, I know that, let me come back to that point, 00:22:51.41\00:22:53.41 because that goes back to why is it always math. But 00:22:53.44\00:22:57.00 let me make the point that there are different things 00:22:57.03\00:23:01.25 that are fun at different developmental levels. A 00:23:01.28\00:23:05.97 working dog, a dog that is a sheepdog. Will not be a 00:23:06.00\00:23:12.32 good working dog, if it didn't get the chance to 00:23:12.35\00:23:15.24 play work, when it was a puppy. An eagle, who enjoy 00:23:15.27\00:23:22.50 soaring wouldn't enjoy wing flapping, but the eaglet in 00:23:22.53\00:23:27.00 the nest enjoys wing flapping. Oh! Yes. 00:23:27.03\00:23:30.05 So at certain stages, the learning of the simple 00:23:30.08\00:23:34.60 skills necessary to perform the more complex skills 00:23:34.63\00:23:38.81 is the fun, for preschoolers work, their 00:23:38.84\00:23:44.05 work is what we call play. Umm! And then we grow up, 00:23:44.08\00:23:48.41 we think well we're gonna go and have a, we're gonna 00:23:49.19\00:23:53.65 have a picnic okay and we say that's play. Well that 00:23:53.68\00:23:57.98 really isn't play. It's really part of our relaxing 00:23:58.01\00:24:03.70 and helping the brain to work. So having fun is an 00:24:03.73\00:24:09.76 absolutely essential part of learning. Fun meaning 00:24:09.79\00:24:14.86 the enjoyment of the experience, not fun and 00:24:14.89\00:24:18.57 games. Umm! Not amusement and giggles. 00:24:18.60\00:24:21.57 Okay, I am glad you clarified that, you know 00:24:21.60\00:24:23.83 because if a child hears this and they think the 00:24:23.86\00:24:27.56 mom's gonna make it fun all the time or the class 00:24:27.59\00:24:30.20 has to be the fun or its not worth learning. It's 00:24:30.23\00:24:33.29 not always just fun and games that you're talking 00:24:33.32\00:24:35.58 about. That's right and you said a phrase, it's not 00:24:35.61\00:24:38.51 worth learning, it's still worth learning. Umm! 00:24:38.54\00:24:41.31 But it's also still worth the parents trying to make 00:24:41.34\00:24:45.63 it fun or enjoyable or something that the brain 00:24:45.66\00:24:50.67 or the person has more enjoyment doing. Umm! 00:24:50.70\00:24:55.01 Well we have one another question. What's the 00:24:55.04\00:24:58.23 ultimate value of learning? There is really only one 00:24:58.26\00:25:03.14 and this will, this is no surprise to anyone. Umm! 00:25:03.17\00:25:07.52 We all need a savior. And if we gain the whole world 00:25:07.55\00:25:13.76 of knowledge and lose our own soul, what is that, 00:25:13.79\00:25:16.98 we've gained nothing. Nothing. That's Jesus' words. 00:25:17.01\00:25:20.03 Consequently as parents, as teachers, as educators in 00:25:20.06\00:25:25.54 my case. My goal, my objective, my mission is to 00:25:25.57\00:25:34.13 create an environment which is as close to Eden or the 00:25:34.16\00:25:41.80 environment that Jesus was provided with as possible. 00:25:41.83\00:25:45.15 To model as closely as I can. The behaviors that 00:25:45.66\00:25:53.27 were present in the garden and the behaviors that were 00:25:53.30\00:25:56.77 used in the teaching of Jesus and the behaviors 00:25:56.80\00:26:01.09 that we're advised to use in the Bible, to amulet by 00:26:01.12\00:26:06.46 principle and example, the grace of God, both if you'll 00:26:06.49\00:26:14.98 allow a theological analogy, both the justification and 00:26:15.01\00:26:19.67 the sanctification, the justification meaning its 00:26:19.70\00:26:23.79 yours, but the sanctification meaning 00:26:23.82\00:26:26.64 there's still work involved. Yes. But let the internal 00:26:26.67\00:26:31.50 motivation there that the, that the love of God gives 00:26:31.53\00:26:35.66 me be the motivating force in what I do to try to 00:26:35.69\00:26:40.62 develop my children. Umm! My goal as a parent and as 00:26:40.65\00:26:46.11 an educator then is the salvation of my children. 00:26:46.14\00:26:50.40 Amen! That has to be the case. Yeah, and I will come 00:26:50.43\00:26:55.52 back to the environment, we need good, solid, natural 00:26:55.55\00:27:00.46 environment to take advantage of the fact that 00:27:00.49\00:27:02.72 God created us to learn naturally. Umm! Then we 00:27:02.75\00:27:07.24 model the behaviors, we trust in God, by all means 00:27:07.27\00:27:13.97 pray that God gives us the Wisdom. Wisdom. Yeah and 00:27:14.00\00:27:19.05 then makes up the difference for where we fall short. 00:27:19.08\00:27:22.11 Right. Because the last thing in the world, we 00:27:22.14\00:27:23.98 should feel is any guilt or feeling of failure. Because 00:27:24.01\00:27:28.76 we can't be the perfect father or the perfect 00:27:28.79\00:27:31.01 mother or the perfect parent. Right. You know. 00:27:31.04\00:27:34.35 Dr Tucker, it's been a pleasure to have you on and 00:27:34.38\00:27:37.32 I'm very thankful that you made it and I just pray that 00:27:37.35\00:27:43.81 in your homes you're going to apply these principles 00:27:43.84\00:27:47.59 and I know that if you have interest in finding out 00:27:47.62\00:27:50.72 more about how to's and you can write 3ABN or call, 00:27:50.75\00:27:54.27 until then I want you to join us again on 00:27:54.30\00:27:57.02 Thinking About Home. 00:27:57.05\00:27:58.19