This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of New York Life. All opinions are 100% mine.
I need one doctor, one lawyer, and one accountant. The other one pick what s/he wants to do.
Sam and I have six children and they are all over the map in what they are most interested in — even within a single individual. One daughter is a computer tech wizard and a competitive ballroom dancer. Another loves anything to do with animals and plants. A couple of our children love nothing more than musical theater. One son loves games and computers and surfing. Another likes anything involving lots of people.
While we may have particular dreams or goals in mind for them, those ideas must always be modified or tempered as a child's true genius and passion begins to emerge.Â
Homeschooling has given us many avenues to pursue these dreams, while still keeping their future options open with typical academic work. This has come about mostly as a result of the efficiency of homeschooling. Work that takes all day (and well into the evening) in a typical school setting, can often be done in a thoughtfully planned morning, leaving many hours to pursue interests.
By the time she entered college, one daughter was already an expert web programmer, due simply to the fact that she had time to immerse herself in the technology over the years. Because of that, she not only had real world experience that gave her an idea of how she might further her studies, she also had the (enormous!) advantage of never having to take the lowest paying manual labor jobs available, because she had extraordinary skills.
Like the family in My All-Star Daughter, we love to support and encourage the positive dreams of our children, no matter what the subject matter. Whether in science, sports, arts, humanities, we have always felt there were good and productive things that could be found and accomplished.
How have you taught your children “in the way they should go” while still supporting and encouraging their dreams and passions?
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What a great post. We all love to talk about our kids. 🙂
There is really no magical formula, other than give them opportunities and be involved (ie go to games/concerts/recitals, etc. – even when they are five and scratch it out). They tried lots of different things. If they liked it, they kept going. If not, they moved on. There were always new things to try. For academics, we spent time with them on their homework/papers (not doing it!).
As they grew older, they each found what they liked and as expected they have vastly different fields of interest. For example, one daughter loved math of all things. She’s now getting a doctorate and wants to do medical research. The other performs in choirs and does accounting to earn money. And the other is a philosopher and lifeguards to earn money. So each found their own thing and have a great life. It really was that simple.