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Along Life’s Way
Learning Links
By Lois E. Wilson
When we are young, our minds are eager to learn. Our parents teach us
many necessary activities—how to dress ourselves, how to hold a glass
and eating utensils, toilet training, etc. The word “learn” has within
it the word “earn.” There is a link between the two words; when we
learn, we are earning or making a gain of knowledge—a great reward to
one’s self-confidence and esteem.
It is hoped that we always maintain the motivation to continue to
learn. Knowledge soon becomes a link to teaching others. Parents feel a
sense of “job well-done” when they overhear their children telling
others how to do something. The child’s sharing knowledge is teaching.
With schools being closed and children at home, parents soon realize
that their teaching days are not over. In fact, they have been teaching
every day of their child’s life. Children are learning what they see,
hear, sense, from parents, classmates and others. This knowledge may be
good or bad. Many competing influences exist.
Exhibit in your own lives the attributes you hope to see in your
children. You are their role models. We must remember we are teaching
all the time. “Homeschooling” never ends.
In Deuteronomy 4:9, (NIV) Moses states: “Only be careful, and watch
yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have
seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them
to your children and to their children after them.”
Whether you are a parent or a teacher at any level of school, students
are challenging us to challenge them. To motivate them through topics
and activities that interest them is one of the easiest ways to
successfully direct their learning. Start with where they are on the
learning scale and move upward.
Teaching others tasks is the best way to reinforce our own learning of
matters. Joseph Joubert says, “To teach is to learn twice over.”
Confucius put it this way: “If a man keeps cherishing his old
knowledge, so as continually to be acquiring new, he may be a teacher
of others.” “The one exclusive sign of a thorough knowledge is the
power of teaching.” Aristotle.
The word “teach” has within it the word “each.” The learning links are
growing: Learn, earn; Teach each; Each teach; Learn, earn. The chain
repeats. These can be the educational linking goals for each of our
lives. Always be a learner; always use the knowledge learned and earned
to teach others and you will be a wiser, positive contributor to
society.
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