A-ha Moment Artwork by Gayle Cunningham
A-ha!
We all do it! After we present a lesson, especially an abstract one, we watch, wait, looking for that moment. The moment of recognition, of clarity, of understanding. That moment when we see the flash of enlightenment in their eyes! That moment… the AHA moment! THAT moment is why I homeschool!!! I cherish the Aha’s!
I have to assume that this moment is why there are teachers in the public schools! These moments are so addictive! As homeschooling families, these moments take on even more meaning to us. These moments are not only validation that our children ARE learning, it is confirmation that we CAN teach!
A-ha moments in our house usually accompany a literal physical change in our children’s demeanor where they show a small, shy grin of acknowledgement or sheer jubilation and high-fives of congratulations! Depending on which child experienced the A-ha moment, his personality and how big an A-ha it was… but, we usually see some visible evidence of the moment!
One of my biggest regrets is not cataloging, organizing, and preserving those moments from my perspective, a mom’s perspective. This is where journaling, scrapbooking, vlogging or blogging can become a dynamic piece of a homeschooling family. I know I have already heard … when will I have time. I can assure you, when our children are grown and gone, we will ask why didn’t we make the time to record these blessings? I already feel that way now even with my children still at home… I mourn the lost opportunities of documenting their earlier years. So, I’d like to encourage you to investigate what works best for your lifestyle to document your own children’s AHA moments and start NOW! I have been looking around to see if there is an A-ha Journal and haven’t found anything that inspired me… So, In an effort to help all of us get better at this, I’d like to ask if you are a parent that has already started capturing the A-ha moments, please share with us! How do you capture these beautiful moments? Do you have a blog, a scrapbook, a portfolio, what? I am really looking forward to seeing what everyone is doing!!!!
Trish Corlew
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I just keep a little spiral planner in a handy spot (right now it’s in the kitchen drawer but other times in a container on the kitchen shelf). In it I would just jot short little notes about what we did or little sayings or what happened that day. I’ve gotten bad of not even following through on this simplistic way of doing it – time to take it out of the drawer!
This isn’t pretty or fancy but it IS nice to look at an old calendar and read about it. IF I were to ever follow through with scrapbooking (and the rare occasions in which I have) these little notes helped. It also helps a ton with 4-H Record Books each year.
With just a phrase I can visualize a moment that happened years ago.
This simple, quick way fits my brain style and memory issues. I’ve let it slide the past 2 years. Thanks for the nudge to pull it back out!
Hey Beth! At least you have identified a way to do it 🙂 I’m still working on that part! LOL!