Is your Environment of Support more like a crutch or a stool?

Environment of Support 

Let's consider each part of this...

1. Environment of SUPPORT

What do I mean by support? 

Anything that helps a learner complete a task.

It could be the music played while working, a voice recording app, colored pens for color coding, a calculator, you as a scribe, spell check in Word, a list of transition words, and/or anything in between.

It does NOT mean… make something easier.  Of course we want stage appropriate, but if the child is engaged you may be surprised by the level of difficulty they will rise too.

2. ENVIRONMENT of Support

Is support a crutch or a stool? 

One you lean on while you heal and frequently feel frustrated about needing it.  One you use to get to higher places; and since NO negative emotions are attached, you never hesitate to use it. (This is how my son, in the video above, sees his little chair, a stool to get to anything higher. AND he never hesitates to use it.) 

The environment contributes to the support as much as the actual action because our perspective affects how open we are to using it. Here are 3 scenarios...

1. The observation/perception is that no one else needs or uses this support; therefore it must be a crutch and it's embarrassing to need it.  

Here's an example... Kathleen was struggling to show all her math work in the space provided on the worksheet page. Her writing was just a bit large for the space and the amount of work she had to show was increasing as her problems got harder. Her mom gave her scratch paper and asked her to show her work on the paper. But she didn't observe anyone else needing to use paper to write out their work (in tutoring, in group, or with other siblings).

She concluded that she SHOULDN'T NEED the extra paper, because no one else did.  And she came up with her own solution. She started doing her work in the little space on the worksheet and then erasing it to use the space for the next problem.  And then erase it again to use for problem #3 etc. By the end, there was no work for any problems and with writing on top of writing mom couldn't figure out what she did to solve any of the problems.  

This seemed like a ridiculous battle, but when we talked with Kathleen, she insisted that since others didn't need extra paper, she didn't need extra paper. She could NOT see the paper as a reasonable support, but a crutch that no one else was using, so she wasn't going to. 

We moved the conversation away from "extra paper" to the importance of being able to show and discuss the work done in solving the problems.  Then she was open to brainstorming together ways she could show her work without using "extra paper." She landed on a math journal where she would do ALL her math work.  (she cut and pasted her problems into it and then could customize how much space between the problems so she could show her work).  Even though others didn't keep a math journal, she didn't mind this support. It didn't feel like a crutch, but instead felt like a way to help her organize her work space. 

The perception of support can work for or against us. 

2. The observation/perception is that ANY support is a crutch; therefore needing ANY means weakness or disability and the goal is to go without. 

Here’s an example… I have two music students who are at an early intermediate level (which means their songs get longer, a wider range of notes, more complicated hand movement and technique, and more practice required).  They both know all their notes on the staff, but are unfamiliar with the ones above and below (ledge line notes) because they haven't had as many. I encourage them to write in the notes they don’t know well to support themselves as they learn a new song and assure them that in time they will become just as familiar with these notes and won’t need to write them in.

Jeffrey has no problem writing them in as needed. He knows he won’t need to do this forever and that it’s better to write them now instead of making the same mistakes and building incorrect muscle memory.

Braden doesn’t want to write them in. He says he doesn’t need to write in notes anymore regardless. He makes the same mistakes over and over because he can’t remember the right notes and now his hands are used to going to the wrong keys. 

After 6 months of this… Jeffrey began much more complicated songs and even took on advanced pieces with the confidence he could play anything.  Braden quit.

As his music teacher, it was hard for me to accept his choice, but Braden felt any kind of support was a sign of weakness (not his exact words, but his actions).  He resisted supporting himself so he could do challenging work and decided instead to be done.  This is NOT uncommon.  Without support, it is difficult for most people to do challenging tasks. AND if one believes support is a crutch and sign of dumbness then they will never embrace using the support that could help them rise to the occasion.

3. If, however, the observation/perception is that everyone is using this support as needed, then this action feels like a stool and empowers the user.

Here's an example... Tony was struggling with summary writing. Most of his summaries were very lengthy (sometimes 5-7 pages), more of a re-telling versus summary, and only addressed the first 15 pages of the book. His mom introduced him to the plot diagram as a tool to help him see the WHOLE story.  

He realized that he was not addressing the most important parts of the story by staying the first section. he used the tool to take notes and THEN write a summary that told the whole story. In time, this helped him to reduce the quantity he was writing and to move from re-telling to summary. He was very thankful for the tool and used the diagram with EVERY story from the on, including the movies watched during family time.

It never occurred to him that this was a crutch. He instead saw it as a way to help himself SEE stories. 

So, how do we build an  Environment of Support?

As homeschoolers, we are at an advantage. We don’t have a classroom of students who compare themselves to each other. Yes, your 2nd grader might compare his writing to his 3rd grade sister… but this is much easier to address than with reading groups clearly identified as high, medium, and low.

First, we need to consider how we talk about support in our homeschool environment.

• Is it perceived as a crutch or a stool?
• Do we have to change the perception based on any prior school experiences before or during homeschooling?
• Do we make resources instead of trying to memorize everything?
• Do we use apps and tools to allow ourselves the space to do better thinking instead of trying to do everything in our heads?
• What kind of words do we associate with support? Are they empowering or weakening?

Second, we help each of our children consider what kinds of support helps them to be able to do more challenging tasks.  This requires personalization and creativity.  And is ongoing. Start with a challenging task and together discuss what parts of this feel too hard. Choose a support to make it feel attainable.

Let’s get your wheels moving on ideas for the right kind of support…

1. The first kind stabilizes our base….  In other words it taps into the natural fabric of our individuality and gives us a stronger foundation on which to learn.

EXAMPLE: Linda’s daughter, Tiffany, works best in the afternoon. Her mind takes a little while to get started and the physical activity of the morning combined with a good lunch helps ready her for more focused thinking.  The best stabilizing support for Tiffany would be to allow her to do her schoolwork in the afternoon. She has a much better chance of staying engaged and doing challenging tasks if she can work in her optimal time frame.

This posed a scheduling problem with Linda because she has two other girls she is homeschooling and they function better in the morning.  I will come back around to this… but it leads me into…

1. The second kind adds height to our reach…  In other words it helps a learner do more difficult and challenging tasks. Since everyone can spot an easy task a mile away and feel dumb as a result… we want to keep the challenge high. More challenging tasks make use feel smarter. Therefore, make it your rule to always support up to a challenge instead of reducing the challenge.

EXAMPLE: Kendra’s daughter was creating a mini-book for her doll’s playhouse. The task, while creative and fun, required Emily write a minimum of 5 sentences that connected to a bigger idea and use transition words to connect the sentences.  Emily chose to create a mini-book about making candy which is procedural in nature.

Kendra offered a height support with a simple reference list of possible transition words for procedural texts (i.e. First, Next, Then, Finally, Before, While).  This assisted Emily with word choice as she was writing her sentences and she did keep referring to them as she wrote. When her mini-books were finished it turned out she had more than 10 sentences in each. This one height support helped her not only meet her challenge but exceed the expectations.

Most of time, both stability and height supports are a minimal tweak and don’t require that much extra effort from you. But they make all the difference in the world to your child.

I told you I would come back around to Linda’s with her 3 kids and their best-functioning hours problem.  With some conversation we came up with two things she could do address this.

1. She would shift her schedule slightly. Monday - mornings. Tuesdays - afternoons. Wednesdays - both with individual time with each child during their optimal hours.
2. She looked for a stabilizing and height support for each child for the days they were learning outside of their optimal hours. (i.e. they got to listen to their choice of music on their headphones while they worked or in the part of the house they preferred were just two)

Cultivating an Environment of Support is ongoing as you learn more about your children as learners AND as they grow as learners. Just keep the conversation about what is helpful and what is not, open and often. You will get better at this.

ACTION STEPS...

1. Answer the questions above, about the environment of support in your homeschool. The first step to improving is an honest look at where it stands at present. 
2. Has this workshop given you any ideas about support that you would like to try? Which one(s)? Why do you think that will be helpful? 
3. Join us in my FREE community and share your responses and any other questions. 

Awaken Learning, 

JILL