Moods and learning.

"How much people can learn at any given moment depends on how they feel at that moment about the task and their ability to do the task. When we feel powerful and competent, we leap at difficult task. The difficulty does not discourage us; we think 'Sooner or later I am going to get this' At other times we only think,"I will never get this, its too hard for me, I was never any good at this kind of thing, why do I have to do it," etc. Part of the art of teaching is being able to sense which of these moods the learners are in." [emphasis added] Holt,50

A public school teacher may be able to sense the mood of her learners but ehr ability to react to that is fairly limited and more limited is her ability to react when there are several different moods. Homeschooling makes this easy. As a parent, we are more aware and attentive to our children's every mood. As well we are more in touch with what is likely to affect that mood. Lastly we are not under the constraints of SOL and someone else's timetable. If the child is stuck with a subject we can change and do something differently or put down school altogether and take a field trip. When the child understands this freedom, he does not feel as pressured and is able to find the competent mood more easily