My name is Chantelle, I'm 15 years old. Everyone we come in contact with effects us. Friends, family, and the people that surround us in our everyday lives. In schools, where kids spend about six hours a day, five days a week, they are heavily influenced by the people around them, which are the teachers and their fellow students. So who is influencing them the most? Well, with the average class size in Alberta being as many as 28 children to one teacher, they are learning how to talk to other people, how to interact with others from other children.
When I am at home, the people who are making their impression on me? My parents. They are my examples of how to maturely interact with other adults, how to hold conversations and speak civilly to others. In schools how many times do you see the teachers talking to each other? Maybe a couple times a day in the few minutes in between classes, but when you have a bully who is being rude to other students, that is what children are picking up, that that is how you speak to other people, and are then treating other students rudely, who will in turn treat others like that. The primary influences in their lives five days a week are children talking to other children. When we have to run to the store for milk I see my parents talking to the cashier, or when we are at a camp or event I see them talking to other parents, and I see them making conversation and that is where I pick up how to talk and interact with other people. One of the benefits of homeschooling is something kids in school simply don’t get, which is modeling and practice; we model ourselves after our parents, and then we have the opportunity to put into practice what we are learning in our everyday lives.
Thank you, and God bless,
Chantelle