Intentional Teaching . . . and Learning

What with Blake getting a lot more independent and wanting to test boundaries lately, as well as understanding a lot more of what is going on, I've been thinking a lot more about how to teach him and make sure he learns what we want him to learn.  I know we'll make mistakes, and he'll recover from them, but I've also realized more recently how intentional teaching and raising kids needs to be sometimes.

What do I mean by that?  Well, growing up it always just seemed like all the things we learned (work, discipline, how to behave, service, dos and don'ts) just kind of happened in the course of life.  And, for me as a kid, that is how it happened.  Learning and trying things out was part of what I did every day.  But I never fully appreciated what things were catalysts in that learning.  It didn't just happen as part of keeping us alive (although keeping me out of the emergency room was a full-time job).  You have to know what you want to teach and recognize the opportunities for teaching in order to ensure learning takes place.  Of course, example is the biggest opportunity for learning.

Now, though, I realize how hard it can be to not only 1) identify everything you want your kids to learn (as well as recognizing the likely order and progression of that learning) but 2) identify and recognize opportunities and methods for teaching those things.  Right now I have a list of about 20 major life lessons we'd like him to learn (no pressure).  I realize that I am probably magnifying the problem by thinking about all the things that I want Blake to learn in his life when he barely knows what the word "ball" means, but we'll ignore that related issue for the moment ;) The point is, how do I create a mindset where we are together identifying what we want them to learn and the current opportunities to teach it?

Like most things, I think it is a change of habit and mindset.  Learning, and being intentional about learning, is something you learn to do through formal and informal education.  Some learn to be lifelong learners more so than others, depending on how intentional they are about learning.  Intentional learning requires both identification and recognition of potential learning sources and opportunities (informal and formal).  For example, do I learn something new or have a question and then go find the answer or start studying something new just because I'm interested?

For me, learning has become a habit.  I learn something and ask questions, take time to think about what it means, if it's important and how it relates to my life.

I think intentional teaching in our family will be similar.  I need to find the habits that make it part of our family life, and always have the desire to teach so that I recognize opportunities for example, for experience and for sharing.

What about you?  Have you found ways to make teaching intentional and a habit in your family's life?