Teaching Essentials

Whether you are teaching your child a hobby, a skill, a lesson, or a whole school curriculum, this article is for you. Or, perhaps your child has reached a road-block and needs your help to move on? Or maybe you have a child with physical or other disability? Read on.

I wrote this blog post to share my personal bitter-sweet experience in overcoming a very difficult and almost heartbreaking “teaching moment” with one of my children* (see at the bottom). But the lessons I drew from that experience have now translated so nicely into my every day life teachings, that I apply them almost daily with my children when it comes to teaching them recreational hobbies and school curriculum.

This article is based on the Anat Baniel’s 9 Essentials, with my own interpretation and application of them in the teaching world. I am currently using her 9 Essentials to effectively and creatively educate my children in variety of activities. Anat Baniel is the founder and creator of Anat Baniel Method, which she uses to help children and people from all walks of life and with all sorts of problems and difficulties. She uses neuroscience and movement with her 9 Essentials; and, while she primarily works and creates miracles with children with physical or mental disabilities, she also uses her method with famous musicians, artists, sports players etc, who have reached a plateau or a roadblock at some point in their career. Simply amazing!

IMPORTANT: It is important to point out here, that while I researched Anat’s Baniel 9 Essentials and her approach, I had to, primarily, rely on my own interpretation of what each essential means to me; what I did and do with each Essential is quite different from what Anat Baniel does. I know very little about neuroplasticity or how Anat Baniel actually uses her 9 Essentials to treat people. But I have derived my own meaning and application (except the 1^st Essential), and, as such, was able to successfully apply the 9 Essentials to the physio work* I was once doing with one of my babies and, now, in how I teach my children.

I hope you will find this article motivating and inspiring, or, at the very least, it will serve you as a good reminder to things you might have known already.

The 9 Essentials

1.MOVEMENT WITH ATTENTION. How often do we find ourselves to be on “autopilot” mode, paying no attention to what we are doing? We put our cell phone down and a minute later can’t remember where it is. That’s because we were too busy thinking about something else, while placing the phone down and paid no attention to that movement. And our children often do the same.

There is also a micro-movement component to this. As per Anat Baniel, try sitting on your chair and move your right arm slowly upwards. Pay attention to everything, from every single muscle involved, to beginning of the thought of lifting your arm. Do you know how many neurons need to fire and how many little and big muscles need to be involved in this simple move? Quite a few.

Teaching Application: while for my (teaching) purposes this Essential intertwines and is similar to Essential #4 – Subtlety, you can also use it on its own, as per Anat Baniel, to create and help your children create new neurons in their brains. If you pay attention to your micro-movements for every day common movements, your neurological connections will grow because you will be more aware. And who doesn’t want more neurological connections in their and their child’s brain? I encourage you to do your own research into this fascinating field.

2. SLOW. Mastering new concepts and ideas, as well as overcoming mental blocks, requires time. Often times, we learn (or teach) something new and then rush onto the next lesson. But do take your time to “chew” on the new material until it sinks in.

Example: I was teaching math to my 5 year old last spring, while on COVID-19 quarantine and we were following the Math Smart textbook. For each math question asked in the book, I would re-ask it in many different ways. Same concept, but different numbers, subject matter, etc. We took our time and, for the most part, did not have to go back and revisit many of the concepts learned. While it appeared that we were learning new concepts slowly, we actually learned them thoroughly, and were able to complete a whole Grade 1 curriculum textbook in just a few short months. The material was building up on previous concepts and if your child learns them well, she will have easier time grasping new, more advanced concepts.

Example to above: A simple math problem could be: “John has 8 balls. He gave 3 to his brother Henry. How many balls does he have left?” Then we chew on this by applying the same concept to real life examples using myself and my daughter as examples, and then moving on to our favourite cartoon characters, etc.

3. VARIATION. I love this one and #8 below the most. In how many ways, can we explain and/or practice and apply a new skill until the child gets it? The more different ways, the better.

Example: When my daughter first started learning the music staff and all the notes, even  just a few notes at a time, it was quite overwhelming to memorize where all the notes belong on the staff after we learned a handful of them. So we practiced learning them in many different ways: writing note letters on the piano; doing fill-in-the-blanks worksheets to come up with a “hidden” word made from the letters of music notes (see below picture).

Then I printed a blank staff and drew some notes there and made her name them. Then I would name the notes and she would have to draw them on the blank staff. So many fun possibilities!

4. SUBTLETY. This one, for me, applies more to physical education, movement and sports. An example of where it is crucial, would be in dance or competitive sport. Take tennis for example. The way you hold your racquet, the way you raise your hand to throw the ball up in the air and use the other hand to serve, all the micro movements involved, will make or break your serve and could mean a difference between winning or losing a championship.

Olympic athletes compete to win by micro-seconds. Micro! They need to execute each and every move so precisely that a subtle difference could have them lose valuable micro-seconds and cost a gold medal.

Why is this important for an every day parent? Well, if your child is into any sort of physical fitness, you can help her improve tremendously by paying attention to her subtle movements.

Example: As I watched my six year old daughter dance in front of TV (online dance class due to COVID) I noticed how “off” her arm movements where, which was basically a difference between looking graceful and clumsy. I brought her to the mirror and asked her to execute that dance move in front it. She saw her arms and was surprised that they looked different from what she thought they looked liked. She went on to correct her “mistake”. Little moves do matter and executing them correctly makes a big difference in so many ways.

Another example: I used to compete in badminton in high-school and I remember my class mate, a very good badminton player, teaching me the footwork. He asked me to run from the front to the back of the court like I normally did, and then showed me a better way (think footwork). Right away, I saw what difference it makes. Ah, those valuable micro-seconds!

5. ENTHUSIASM. What an important thing to remember! When it comes to teaching children anything, we have to show our enthusiasm. It’s contagious and your child will most likely adopt your attitude as well, whether it’s enthusiastic or “chore”-like. And remember, there is nothing worse than having a boring teacher to teach you things. Might as well just don’t teach.

Example: there were several times last spring, while teaching my daughter math, she just wouldn’t understand a concept. In my mind it was obvious and easy, so it was frustrating to see her give up so easily and shut down, refusing to listen to my new explanations. You’ve been there. Yes, in those times, you might feel like throwing a pencil at somebody, or something, or breaking it in half altogether, but hold your horses and take a deep breath. It might be a good idea to take a break and try again later. But if time doesn’t permit, take a breath, hug your child and assume a new, fresh enthusiastic attitude. “Let me explain this in different words” with a big (fake or not) smile on your face. Try again, with different examples or turn it into a game, if possible. Do not lose faith. The moment you lose faith and enthusiasm – it’s game over.

6. FLEXIBLE GOALS. Everyone learns at different pace and in different ways, so it’s important to keep your goals flexible. Goals should be our guides, not our stressors, especially when it comes to educating young children. You want your child to be able to read by the time he is 5? That’s great – enjoy the journey … but don’t stress if on her birthday she still can’t put two words together. It will take all the joy out of learning and put unnecessary stress on the whole family.

And having said that, create a time line, not a dead-line, by which you wish to accomplish certain goals, but don’t stress if the day comes by which you wanted your child to achieve or learn something and it hasn’t happened. So what? Adjust your time line and adjust your goals.

Example: when COVID isolation forced us into home-schooling, I set up weekly goals for my older daughter to do a certain amount of math pages/concepts per week, certain amount of books to read, etc … But each week happened to be different. Some weeks we did more math, and other weeks we did more reading and while we finished the math curriculum we didn’t finish what I wanted her to do with reading for the school year. And it’s ok. It’s all about the journey, not the destination. As long as you do everything you can, without putting undue stress on yourself and your child, it will all be ok.

7. THE LEARNING SWITCH. This is magic! The way I see it, is that you have to adopt an attitude open to constant learning (and for parents also teaching) new things, exploration and excitement about new knowledge. An easy example to illustrate when the switch goes on and off is school year vs summer. When you are on summer vacation and don’t teach or learn new things your brain sort of turns off and enters a relaxation mode. When the school year starts, it takes a few days for your brain to re-wire and turn on again.  You can even feel it physically.

While it’s very good for everyone to relax and be on vacation, the learning switch doesn’t actually need to be turned off. You can keep it on and still relax. But look for opportunities your vacation presents you with to teach your children, anything really.

Example: when we go for our almost daily relaxing, mornings hikes with my girls, we keep our learnings switch on, for French and sometimes simple math (my girls are still very young). Nature presents us with so many opportunities to learn new French vocab every day (thank you iPhone and Google Translate), and to think about math application (“there were 3 ducks on the field a minute ago and now 4 sparrows joined them, quick – how many birds are there in total?”). You get the idea.

For more language learning/teaching tips and resources, see my blog post “How To Teach Your Child A Foreign Language At Home” here: https://mamaschronicles.com/how-to-teach-your-child-a-foreign-language-at-home/

8. IMAGINATION & DREAMS. This is probably my favourite one. Whenever possible, think of ways to make learning exciting and dreamy. Let your imagination go wild to make it fresh, inspiring, fun and/or interesting. Let your children imagine they are in a different place, time or world. Perhaps they have magic powers to solve a problem?

Example: One of the examples I have on this subject is using Lavender Mist spray and Imagery to spice up one of our piano lessons. I wrote a short blog post on it here “Piano Motivation Story”: https://mamaschronicles.com/piano-motivation-story/

My daughter loved it so much that it became one of our most memorable piano lessons so far!

You see, not only are you making learning fun and exciting, you are also bonding and creating invaluable childhood memories that will last you and your child a lifetime!

9. AWARENESS. Sometimes the everyday things we do, we do on autopilot, without paying any sort of attention to them. We might get into a routine of doing things a certain way and in certain order without being aware of how we feel that day or how our child feels that day. Maybe your child is not in the mood to do math every morning and would benefit from doing something more creative first.

Pay attention to your feelings, and your child’s feelings and mood, being fully aware of what’s going on in his/her world.

FEW MORE BONUS CONSIDERATIONS from me

GO WITH THE FLOW: I do believe there is a lot of merit to the Montessori approach to teaching, as opposed to having a strict schedule. I usually give my children a choice of what subject they want to learn first and I never force a subject upon them. In fact, they guide me as to what they want to learn and I only make suggestions. If I can’t inspire or motivate them to learn something, then I drop it. Having said that, my children are still young so it’s totally fine if they don’t want to learn something at the moment. Perhaps, I will re-assess the approach when they are older but it’s great for now.

REWARDS SYSTEM: I would also like to add that let’s not overlook a good Rewards System.

It could be simple praise or acknowledgement of your child’s effort, or something more tangible like a gift. In my family, I like to use a Sticker Passport and my 6 year old daughter loves earning her stickers by completing all her homework. You can read a quick blurb on it in my blog post “Rewards System” here: https://mamaschronicles.com/rewards-system/

LOVE & PATIENCE. It’s hard to inspire children to learn something if you, yourself, don’t love the subject and even worse, have no patience for learning or teaching it. I remember when I was 8 years, my father was trying to teach me some complex math problems. He would explain them like he would to an adult and when I didn’t understand or couldn’t solve the problems, he would get very impatient with me, to the point I would have tears. I knew he loved me, and that’s why he was teaching me in the first place, because he cared about me, but this is not how we want to teach our children. We need to have A LOT of patience with them, and we have to work on ourselves to acquire that patience. It’s not easy.

And most importantly, just love your children. Whether they understand what you are teaching or not, whether they improve or not … just love them for who they are and show them your love. Nothing else really matters in the world of a child as much as just being loved and accepted for who they are and not for who we want them to be.

And having said that, this brings us into a very important discussion on CONSCIOUS PARENTING, which is beyond the scope of this article. However, if you are interested, you can read my very informative blog post on it titled “On Consscious Parenting” here: https://mamaschronicles.com/onconscious-parenting/

It is based on the online course I took with Dr. Shefali Tsabary on the Conscious Parenting. She is the expert in the field.  I cannot praise her work enough. If you could do one thing for yourself and your child – it is to get familiar with Dr. Shefali’s work.

I wish you all the best in your educational endeavors. Please share your own tips and/or let me know what you think about these Essentials. I appreciate any feedback.

*BACKGROUND and where it all began for me.

When one of my daughters was just 3 months old, I noticed she had a slight physical issue** which required attention, or rather extensive physio therapy to correct. Our physio therapist told us that by the time she turns 6 months old her issue will resolve. But there was a problem. My baby hated doing physio; she cried hysterically each time she saw the physio therapist (while I cried quietly on the inside watching her) and she resisted and equally hated the exercises that were given to us (talk about Enthusiasm here!). But we ploughed through them nonetheless … She turned 6 months, and we saw no results … 3 months, 2 other physiotherapists and bi-weekly visits to osteopath later, yielded no results either. Each time we saw a specialist we were told “it will take just a few months to correct” but I saw very little to no improvement, months after months, despite doing everything I could and trying to stay positive.

That’s when, one sleepless night, while doing yet another endless research on her condition, I came across the work of Anat Baniel. And it changed everything. It gave me hope, it inspired me to approach and look at things yet differently, in ways I haven’t tried nor seen before, to let go of expectations, goals and time-lines, and to simply embrace the process and get more creative and patient about it. It took another 9 months of extensive physio, AND applying Anat Baniel’s 9 Essentials above in my own way to the physio work we were doing, until my daughter’s condition finally improved and almost dissipated completely. Instead of dreading and hating physio, I was now excited and enthusiastic about it, and so was my baby.

It was a tremendous learning experience for me (or rather, I learned how to teach and approach certain things) and it literarily changed my life.

**To protect my child’s confidentiality I won’t name what her challenge was, nor does it matter for the purposes of this blog, but I am happy to report that it is now resolved and no one would ever tell there was ever an issue.

RESOURCES

If you are interested in learning more about Anat Baniel and her method, you can visit her website here https://www.anatbanielmethod.com/

There are also Anat Baniel Method practitioners around the world and you might be able to find someone close to you. If you know me personally, I can recommend one. I have actually taken my daughter to her once and I found her fascinating.

If you have a child with disabilities, I suggest reading Anat Baniel’s book – “Kids Beyond Limits”.

If you just want to learn and apply Anat Baniel’s 9 Essentials to your life, you can read her book – “Move Into Life”.

I have read both books and I fell in love with Move Into Life.