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A DISTANCE LEARNING K-12 SCHOOL FOR TORAH-OBSERVANT HOMESCHOOLERS
ITA VALUES AND PHILOSOPHY
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SENSITIVITY IN SPEECH
Please, please, please, teach your children language sensitivity. To use good words, to use gentle vs. harsh language. In his lecture on the tower of Babel, Rabbi Galamidi (MGBH) says, “We need to use as soft language as possible.” Torah teaches us that Hashem is “on our tongue.”
Some parents think, “My child has to live in this world, he/she will hear bad words anyways. We might as well use them in front of them. It’s better that they learn them from us.” This is a toxic mindset, and wrong understanding of how Hashem works. We create our own reality, “Avera ke dabera,” – “I create as I speak.” The first 7 years are the “Bereshit” of a child’s life. What we put into those seven years, what we sew during that precious time, will become “normal” for your children for life.
Studies show that it is the immediate caregivers that influence the child the most. The environment only plays a secondary role serving more as a background vs. primary influencer on a child’s inner world.
FOOD
As a responsible parent, you are an integral part of taking care of your child’s health through food choices. Unlike most traditional parents who heavily rely on supplemental school lunches, you have to provide breakfast-lunch-dinner + snacks every day for your children. Please, make wise food choices, yet do not beat yourself up because of an occasional pizza and repetitious sandwich lunch. Organic, Non-GMO ingredients are a priority; low sugar/candy is, too. Jewish food culture heavily relies on kashrut guidelines for food choices, but today in the ever changing environment, we have to watch out for things other than treif – genetically modified foods, hormones and antibiotics in meat and dairy, toxic pesticides in fruits, vegetables, and grains, artificial chemicals in snacks. Most of these health traps can be avoided if buying organics.
Contrary to a popular view that organics are expensive, there are many options that disprove that. Did you know that many food items in Publix are more expensive than those at Wholefoods and Trader Joe’s? Did you know that the same organic food you buy at the kosher store, is 25% more expensive than that at Wholefoods? Did you know that Costco is the nations’ largest provider of organic products at affordable prices? Lots of organic foods can be bought in bulk online to reduce cost.
TAKING CARE OF THE TEACHER
As a homeschooling parent, you often forget about the most important person in your life – YOURSELF! Your health matters. Your happiness matters. Your feeling of self-worth matters. Your inner balance matters. If you are out of balance, so is everyone around you. Take care of yourself first. Don’t give away 100% of yourself to others. Save some of you for yourself. There are no human sacrifices in the Torah. Drink plenty of water, pray, read Tehilim, get adequate nutrition, and enough sleep. Keep a daily schedule – early to bed, early to rise, makes a homeschooling parent happy, healthy and wise. Through your personal example, teach your homeschooled students to take care of themselves as well. This is an integral part of their life education. Every morning we say, “I take upon myself a positive commandment of loving a fellow Hebrew as I love myself.” Our relationships with ourselves is a reasonable predictor of how we will treat others. Be ready to receive your student every morning before you teach him/her something.
Be kind, patient, and consistent.
ITA APPROACH TO TECHNOLOGY
At ITA, we value holistic approach to education and encourage parents to minimize children’s exposure to technology. While there are many educational apps offered today to help memorize school material faster in interactive ways, nothing can replace human connection. Additionally, radiation from tablets, smart phones, and laptops has especially strong effects on younger children whose physical body has not fully developed yet. Please, click here to read about negative effects of technology on young children.
Because technology today changes so fast and is so intuitive, it is easy to catch up with it at any age. Do not be afraid that your child will be behind by learning to type or using Microsoft Office in later grades.
NURTURING YOUR CHILD’S INTUITION
Listening to and trusting the “gut” feeling is an integral part of being in harmony with oneself, Hashem, and the world. Babies and children are born with strong intuition. They are naturally attuned to their needs and perceive their environment on subtle energy level.
We can help them preserve this precious gift from Hashem by using some of the following techniques:
– – Always telling them the truth. By lying to a child, we steal their intuitive feeling for what is true. Lies are hollow words. Children feel it and get confused, which weakens their connection to Hashem.
– Speaking in a quiet voice – avoiding yelling.
– Feeding children non-GMO foods. What we eat, affects our neshamot. Foods that are treated with respect to the laws of nature possess more vital energy that keeps our bodies in balance.
– Letting children connect with nature on the daily basis through playing outside, interacting with animals as well as gardening.
– Talking to children about their subtle feelings and sensations providing explanations.
– – Avoiding judgmental statements and comments. When children feel judged, they experience shame. A feeling of shame brings their neshama to lower vibrational state, which, in turn,temporarily disconnects them from the shechina that is upon all children, allowing forces of yatzer harah to enter their precious souls.
– Allowing students some time to “just be.” Give them time to be alone and learn to occupy themselves.
– Weaving prayer into everyday life situations. E.g., praying for help to find a lost object, praying for help to stop a younger brother from screaming, etc.
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ITA APPROACH TO WRITING AND READING
Historically and culturally, approach to writing and reading – coding and decoding information – varies.
In an experimental American culture, early reading and writing has become a fashion and a theorized criteria of success, while in Finland, which borrowed its educational model from the former Soviet Union and now boasts being #1 educational system in the world, reading and writing is introduced only at the age 7 – once a student enters first grade.
Traditionally, in a Jewish culture, a bar-mitzvah is partially marked by displaying a boy’s ability to read at the age of 13 – in front of a relatively large group of people, thus combining and putting emphasis on reading and oral presentation skills.
In a world reknowned Waldorf school system, a child is considered ready for reading once the following signs are present:
• Eruption of the six-year molars. Many physicians affirm that this is the more significant signal of birth of the etheric than loss of baby teeth. Children are losing teeth at younger ages, which may be more a sign of premature hardening due to societal influences than a signal of maturity for school.
• Loss of milk teeth.
• Lengthening of limbs in relation to head size. The child should be able to reach up over his head and touch his opposite ear without leaning or bending his head to the side. Ideally the elbow makes a 90-degree angle rather than the child leaning his head into the crook of the elbow.
• Facial features individualize; young child roundness fades.
• S-curve appears in the spine.
• Rib cage becomes visible as separate from the tummy region. The child grows taller and seems to “stretch” in height.
• Arch develops in the foot.
The child will also begin to show changes in gross- and fine-motor coordination and integration. The child has the ability to move with increasing coordination and intention. As Dr. Michaela Glöckler puts it, “Throw a ball in the air with one hand and catch it with two; stand on one leg and hop sideways, forward, and backward; walk on tip toe; string beads, finger knit; set the table, wash and dry dishes; dress and undress; tie shoes and button.” New forces of levity enter into movement. The child can skip more lightly and begin to jump rope.
Emphasis on harmonious spiritual, physical, and emotional development takes precedent over teaching head education. In his lectures, R. Steiner – an Austrian psychologist and philosopher, the father of Waldorf Education, spoke extensively on avoiding “head” education, which could lead to lack of body awareness, physiological and emotional imbalance later on in life.
At ITA, we leave the decision of writing and reading readiness up to the parents, with a suggested age between 7 and 9. Our curriculum is designed in a flexible manner to accommodate writing and reading readiness.
FOUNDATIONS OF HOMESCHOOLING
Fluidity within structure
Because you live with your “students” and do not get as much time off as professional teachers do in a formal school setting, be ready to allow for much more flexibility. Do not scold yourself if you are not ready to teach when you are having an off-day. When that happens, take a day trip to botanical gardens if the weather allows or stay in bed or rest on the couch and let your children gather around you to read a book or recite poems or Tehilim. Ask them to pray to Hashem to give you energy. Ana Bekoach is an amazing prayer for this occasion.
Consistency
Many homeschooling parents report that registering with an umbrella school provides them with an external motivation and power to be consistent in the daily study schedule.
Socializing with Others
One of the negative cultural stereotypes crystalized in the question to a homeschooler from a traditional parent is almost always rhetorical, “But… how do your kids socialize?” Homeschooling does not have to be a lonely journey. At ITA we strive to provide a platform for parents to create homeschooling groups, go on trips together, and have collaborative educational meetups for parents.
Many homeschooling parents arrange play dates for their children, involve them in extra-curricular activities, socialize through social groups in synagogues, and take advantage of summer camps.
Look for a homeschooling group in your area based on your level of observance. Volunteer to become a group leader to organize your local homeschooling group.