Some parenting is hard. Raising a brainiac doesn't have to be. 3 No-brainers to Raise a Brainiac! Heaven Not Harvard shares easy tips to start your child on a path to love learning.
Homeschool

My 3 No-brainers to raise a Brainiac!

September 3, 2015 /

Raising a brainiac is a bit tongue in cheek, but all parents want to give their children the best start in life possible.

And we’ve all wished from time to time that kids came with instructions.

From getting them to sleep or eat green beans, all parents have struggled with getting the hang of this parenting thing, but helping them be ready to learn can be easy with these tips.

My 3 no-brainers to raise a Brainiac!

My daughter is has a sharp memory and insatiable curiosity. While I can’t take credit for her natural gifts, especially since we adopted, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how we prepared her to be a learner long before we officially started homeschooling.

Some parenting is hard. Raising a brainiac doesn't have to be. Heaven Not Harvard shares easy tips to start your child on a path to love learning.

1). Read with your child.

Experts recommend 20 minutes a day. Reading  . . .

  • builds bonds between parent and child. I started reading to my daughter in the NICU so she could hear my voice. Reading together still makes me feel close to her.
  • teaches vocabulary, prepares children for oral language acquisition, but also contributes to their ability to follow a narrative and process with visual imagery.
  • helps children understand the basic building blocks of language: print moves from left to right, letters represent sounds that create words representing ideas, a fundamental understanding of grammar and punctuation.
  • can be the vehicle to teach ideas, vocabulary, and content in a variety of subjects. My daughter loves space and animals. She learns about them through reading. Double win!
Reading together builds your relationship and a love of learning, language & books. Click To Tweet

2). Talk with your child.

We all talk to our children, so what do I mean?

  • Use adult vocabulary. Kids are sponges – use it. They’ll repeat everything anyhow, so give them a few things you won’t be embarrassed to hear in the middle of a quiet library.

I used vocabulary above her ability but follow-up with a familiar word to tie the two together.

  • Explain EVERYTHING. I know it gets exhausting. By dinner time, my brain is ready to explode, but she wants to know everything about everything.

And despite the exhaustive nature of the why?, I really want to encourage that her curious nature.

I started before she could talk: We’re going to the store; see the pretty trees – those are pine trees, pine trees are coniferous.

It really doesn’t matter that it is WAY above their heads. Talk anyway because it really helps brains development and babies are not great conversationalists.

Talk WITH your kids about what you're reading, watching, doing. You'll teach them so much! Click To Tweet

3). Edutain them!

While experts recommend ZERO hours of screen time under two, but we all know mommy has to shower! I tried to be very careful with what she watched.

Her music, books, video games, television, movies – 99% are educational exclusively.

If she can’t learn from it, we don’t watch it.

And talk about what you’re watching! Sociologists noted that parents influenced their children the most when they discussed shows they were watching together.

The more we talk, the more the information solidifies in her mind. She asks questions. We can even look up extra information online about what we’re watching.

Bonus TIP!

Most of all, make it fun. Kids will love what is fun. You will love having fun with them.

Play alphabet games, think of silly words that rhyme, watch shows you can enjoy with them.

We spent a week watching #BigBlueLive on PBS about the swarming of marine life in Monterey Bay, Ca. We’ve loved watching it each night and learned a ton.

You can still watch the webcams here.

Raising a brainiac isn’t nearly as important as raising a kind, caring child, but give them the foundation to make learning easy and fun, and make a life-long learner out of your kid.

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12 Comments

  • Irina Rena

    August 16, 2016 at 1:57 am Reply

    Great tips. Reading is so much fun. My 13 year loves when I read out loud. I think your never too old to listen to a great book being read out loud. Yes…talking to your child like an adult. During dinner time hubby and I talk with our children about current events, history, and what’s going on in the world today. 🙂

  • Hanna

    September 23, 2015 at 3:05 pm Reply

    If science is your daughter’s favorite subject, she’s either going to make a very bad scientist or a very bad Christian.

    Science is a PROCESS within the physical world to test and verify theories of why something exists and how it works. When the theory is right, science is advanced. When the theory is wrong, science is advanced. Science always advances because it has no vested interest in what the answer actually is – only that there is one suffices to advance science.

    By contrast, religion is only advanced when God is the answer so religion. Religion begins with the foregone conclusion that God is the answer.

    How did the universe begin: God made it.
    How did life begin: God made it.
    Can you test it? No, don’t need to, God said he made it.
    How do I verify it to be true? You can’t, God said he made it.

    For her sake, I hope your daughter turns out to be a very good scientist.

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