Motivation: The Art and Science of Helping Children Learn Well by Andrew Pudewa at PHC 2016

Back in high school, I was tasked to report about the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. Divine Comedy is an epic poem composed of three major parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. I came to school on the day of my report prepared only to discuss the first two parts. My excuse: I lacked time. I lacked time because I have immersed myself too much in the understanding of Inferno and Purgatorio that I didn’t get to Paradiso. My knowledge back then of the first two books was in the level that if my teacher asked me why a certain character is in hell, I would have been able to tell that person’s story and explain why Dante placed him in that specific level of hell. Sadly to my disappointment, our teacher asked me to discuss only one Canto out of the 100 cantos in Divine Comedy.   

Looking back even though I didn’t get to report Divine Comedy the way I wanted to I had a great learning experience. I can’t help but wonder though how much more amazing my learning experience would have been if I was given more freedom in researching and discussing that great work of world literature.

Last October 22, I attended the Philippine Homeschool Conference 2016 at the SMX Convention Center of SM Aura. One of the things I realized after the conference is that by choosing to homeschool our little Queen B I am giving her more chances to experience the kind of learning I had with Divine Comedy, hopefully maybe an even better experience. Through homeschooling, she will have the freedom to really go in-depth and immerse herself in a topic of her choosing. With this beautiful vision in mind, I am more determined than ever to continue this journey I had started with her.

In the Philippine Homeschool Conference, for one whole day I listened to various homeschooling experts talked and generously shared their experiences, tips, and learnings in their own homeschooling journey. I am so glad I attended it. This year’s theme was From Roots to Wings: Homeschooling through the Stages. It was such an awesome and eye-opening learning experience that I want to share it with you through a blog post series. For the first part of my post series, I am sharing what I have learned from Mr. Andrew Pudewa.

Motivation: The Art and Science of Helping Children Learn Well

By Andrew Pudewa

Andrew Pudewa is the director of the Institute for Excellence in Writing and father of seven children who were all homeschooled. In his talk, he discussed to us the Four Forms of Relevancies, the Three Laws of Motivation, and his Two Secret Weapons.

According to www.dictionary.com , relevancy means the condition of being connected with a matter at hand. As anyone must have experienced, learning something is so much easier, faster, and enjoyable when one feels a strong connection or interest in the topic. According to Pudewa, there are Four Forms of Relevancies or reasons why we learn something.

Four Forms of Relevancies

1. Intrinsic – We are excited to learn something just because we are. In high school, my favorite subjects were History and English so studying Divine Comedy was not just a requirement I must finish. I just felt a strong desire to understand each line, allegory, and mythology of Dante’s epic poem. I even dreamt of making my own epic poem. My Divine Comedy learning experience had left such a lasting experience that for years I have used Dante’s last name as my e-mail password (Note: It is no longer my password).  

2. Inspired – We learn something because someone we care or admire is interested in that topic. I started reading the Harry Potter series because of my two closest friends. They love the books so much that I had just to know what made a children’s book very interesting to them. During that time, I was into romance and mystery thriller novels yet I eventually became a bigger fan of the Harry Potter series than both of them.

3. Contrived – We learn something because it was made interesting by a game or gimmick. Having a game is a common motivational activity done by a teacher. I, myself, have used these strategy lots of times in my classes. Andrew Pudewa shared to us the 2 principles to make a game appealing. First, it must be possible to win the game, and second, there should be a potential gain and loss.

4. Enforced - We learn something because if we don’t we’ll suffer. I don’t like Math, practically hated it in highschool and in college, but I need to learn enough about it to get a passing grade. Honestly, I only started appreciating Math when I was already teaching. It was only then that I really realized its importance and beauty.

Motivation is commonly defined as the desire of someone to do something.  The following are the Laws of Motivation according to Andrew Pudewa:

Laws of Motivation

1. Children like to do what they can do. I was the Literary Editor of our school paper in high school. Once, in our Literature class, we were asked to make a sonnet with the same pattern as a Shakespearean sonnet. Making a poem back then was so effortless for me that by the end of our class, I was the only one who was able to produce a correct sonnet.

2. Children want to do what they think they can do. My mind was already made up to take Bachelor of Arts courses for college but the DOST scholarship changed that. When I find out that I received a DOST scholarship, I realized that I can also be good at something I thought I wasn’t. Even though it was not my first choice and did not really like the subject in high school, I took up Chemistry as my major. I thought that if I can pass the DOST Scholarship Exam then I must be capable of understanding concepts I initially thought was beyond me. 

3. Children hate and will refuse what they think they can’t do. Even though, aside from Physical Education, my grades in our Math subjects prevented me from making it to the Top 10 list of my high school class I did not really make an effort to like and understand it. I hated Math and I don’t want to spend more time studying it than I have to. Instead, I focused most of my attention on those subjects I am already good at, studying even those topics not covered by our curriculum. Thankfully, my perspective about Math did change eventually.

Lastly, Andrew shared to us his 2 Secret Weapons in making a child learn something.

Two Secret Weapons

1. The student should know that we love him or her. Love is a very powerful emotion and action. It is my hope that I will always show my love to her, especially when we have to tackle topics she’ll find difficult or I don’t like to teach. It is my prayer that our love for each other will help us learn from one another as we traverse our homeschooling journey.

2. Never underestimate the power of a smile. As both a student and a teacher, teaching and learning is easier when there is a harmonious environment. A smile is the beginning of such atmosphere.

Mr. Andrew Pudewa is a great speaker. He made us smile, laugh, and think. He made us realize that we are not robbing our children precious memories by homeschooling them, instead we are giving them so much more. I am excited to apply all I have learned from him with my little Queen B and also maybe to other students I will be able to teach in the future.

While I attended the conference, J took care of our little Queen B. 

 #xoxo

Watch out for the second part of my blog post series about my first Philippine Homeschool Conference experience. The past weeks had been hectic and I know the coming weeks as well so please pray that I’ll find the energy and time to write. Good day!