Getting Specific About Growth
When we ask the question "is my child growing in homeschool?" it's important to remember that growth is a multifaceted process. There are many types of growth. While each type focuses on specific aspects of a child's development, they all work together to help your child develop.
Social-Emotional Growth covers the areas a child develops in regards to their relationships and social awareness, self-awareness and self-management, and decision making skills.
Cognitive Growth refers to the stages of development for aquiring and understanding knowledge.
Behavorial Growth looks at how children learn and adopt skills and behaviors, from the bare basics to the highly complex.
Physical Growth takes into consideration the child's physical body and how it changes over time.
As Muslim parents, we also put a great emphasis on Spiritual Growth, the changes and developments that happen in relation to our faith and religious practices.
Each category of growth covers a lot and each one plays a role from early childhood well into adolescenance and adulthood. While areas of growth may have a general ranges for signs of development, the exact timelines of when and how children will grow within each type can vary greatly. Growth for your first child may look completely different to how your third or fifth child grows.
So when we ask "is my child growing?", it's important to identify what exactly we mean by the question and know what we're specifically looking for.
Has my child grown in their understanding of multipying fractions?
Is my child improving in their ability to self-regulate when they feel frustrated?
Has my child gotten better at praying their salah on time?
Is my child better able to jump rope today than they were three months ago?
Has my child taken more ownership and responsibility for their daily routines?
When we can get clear on what we are looking for in terms of growth, we are better able to see where growth is happening and take note of any struggles along the way.
The key is to not stress over it, and not hound your children trying to get proof of it.
Because growth doesn't happen all at once, or right away, or even in neat and orderly ways. Some growth you may not see the results of for years to come, when your child is chasing something seemingly unrelated and connects the dots to a lesson or skill that you taught them a long time before.
Click here to read about the many ways you can assess your child’s growth in homeschool.