What are the characteristics of traditional and modern homeschooling in Japan?

Every country and nation has its own concepts and ways of homeschooling. Japan's family education presents a distinctive feature. It is that both heirloom and modern homeschooling play a role at the same time.

Traditional features of Japanese family education

The traditional family education in Japan has the following outstanding features:

I. Emphasis on etiquette education

Japanese family education attaches great importance to the education of women's etiquette. A mother makes a meal without telling her child to eat it. The child is not allowed to eat first by himself. Before the child eats, he or she must first say, "You're welcome. Every time a child leaves or returns home, he or she has a set of rules of etiquette. Every time a child leaves the house, he/she must say "I'm leaving" to his/her mother and father, and every time he/she comes home, he/she must say "I'm back" when he/she enters the house. Japanese children's civilized behavior has become their habit.

Second, the importance of children's self-reliance education

Japanese families from an early age to cultivate children's autonomy, the spirit of self-reliance. Most families require their children to do household chores, including helping before and after meals, cooking: letting children tidy up and organize their own rooms and things around them: letting children go shopping by themselves and so on.

Japanese parents are very supportive of their children taking cooking and sewing classes at school, etc. In Japan, children are better able to deal with problems on their own and to adapt to life and the environment.

Third, the importance of children's education to resist setbacks

Japanese children fall down when walking, parents are not active in helping him up. Instead, they encourage them to overcome the difficulties themselves. Elementary school students wear shorts in the winter, some children's legs are frozen purple, parents do not "heartache", but to support and encourage their children to do so.

Four, the importance of innovative education

Japanese family education from childhood on the development of children's creative personality, the importance of cultivating children's curiosity and spirit of adventure. Parents try to answer all kinds of questions raised by their children. From an early age, children are encouraged to ask questions and to have independent ideas and opinions. Parents often take their children to science and technology museums to read books, borrow books, play a variety of creative games, and develop children's imagination. Japanese parents attach great importance to the development of children's hands-on skills. They buy assembly toys for their children and encourage them to assemble various models from different angles to develop their hands-on ability and creativity.

Development of young children's "right brain" new method

"Development of the right brain" is a new theory created by Japanese children's education experts in earlier years. They believe that the human brain completes 60% of its development by the age of 3 and 90% by the age of 6, but the left and right hemispheres do not develop at the same speed during this period: the right brain develops before the age of 3, while the left brain develops only at the age of 4-5. The right brain is mainly responsible for controlling the development of sensation and imagination. If the right brain can be consciously strengthened in the early childhood, it will play a positive role in the child's ability to innovate in adulthood. At the same time, the development of the right brain can also further promote the development of the left brain. For this reason, Japanese children's education experts have devised various new and effective methods to develop the right side of the brain.

◆Matching game

When a child is 1.5 years old, he or she can play a matching game: Spread out several letter cards, and ask the child to match two identical letter cards. If the child confuses two different letters that are similar in appearance, the adult can point out the difference graphically while correcting them. For example, when explaining the letter B, depict it as one of the baby's ears and the letter P as one of Grandpa's canes. Gradually develop matching games into "categorization games" as children get older. For example, ask your 2-year-old to match pictures of the same animal in different poses; ask your 2-and-a-half-year-old to categorize fruits and cookies in pictures or objects.

◆Observing clouds

On a clear day, taking your child to observe clouds in the sky can inspire him or her to see different shapes of clouds as animals, fairies, angels, and so on. It is widely believed in Japan that this is the easiest way to utilize nature to exercise the right side of the child's brain.

◆Stargazing

Take your child to look up at the starry sky and tell the myths and legends of "Cowherd and Weaver", and also ask him or her to open up the wings of imagination and weave stories about the moon or stars. Experts believe that imagination itself is a kind of "right-brain gymnastics".

◆Guess the big one with the small one

Cover up most of the pictures of animals and plants that your child is familiar with, and let him or her guess what kind of animal or plant it is. This helps improve children's ability to make inferences.

◆Use the left side more often

Since activities on the left side of the body are mainly directed by the right brain, using the left eye, left ear and left hand more often means exercising the right brain. Why don't you let your child's head often turn to the right, and train his or her "left field of vision" more often: listen to music or stories with headphones in the left ear; consciously use the left hand to carry things, wipe the table, open the door, turn on the light and so on.

◆Integrated stimulation

Visual, auditory and verbal "integrated stimulation" is especially helpful in developing the right side of the brain. Kindergarten teachers often use multimedia to show children dinosaurs and flower patterns one after another for an hour, interspersed with language stimulation such as children's songs, foreign languages and stories. However, "integrated stimulation" must be broken down into smaller units (e.g., 3 minutes at a time, followed by a 1-minute break), as it is difficult for young children to maintain interest in the same stimuli over a long period of time.

◆Experience new things

Try not to let your child walk down the same path, read the same book, or play with the same friends. When you send your child to kindergarten, you may want to change the route on purpose, and you may want to choose a wider variety of books for your child. Make an effort to create conditions for your child to have the opportunity to make friends with children of various personalities and hobbies. Fresh experiences are good for activating the right brain function.

◆Emphasize talent

Cultivating your child's talent in chess, musical instruments, painting, flower arranging, and origami is also a positive way to develop the right brain.