Just because your homeschoolers are critical thinkers doesn’t mean that they can’t be creative thinkers as well.   Road two of the classical trivium, thought, involves giving your children tools to solve problems. Observation, language, and evidence are all components of critical thinking but so is creative thinking. How is creative thinking related to critical thinking?

To be a creative thinker is to have a sense of discovery…to imagine…to invent…to be curious. Critical thinkers need to foster creative thinking so that they can develop viable alternatives and solutions for the problem. Solving problems involves the following five steps:

1. Identify the real problem.

  • Ask lots of questions.
  • Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
  • What is causing the problem?
  • Eliminate the distracting side issues.

2. Generate a list of alternatives.

  • Consult experts.
  • Brainstorm.
  • Set the timer and “jam” random thoughts.
  • Imagine new ways of doing it
  • Postpone judgment until later.

3. Evaluate the pros and cons of your possible solutions.

  • What do the experts recommend?
  • What do the written references say?
  • What are the facts?
  • Have you had a personal experience with the problem?

4. Decide on the best solution.

  • What pros and cons can you merge?
  • What alternative solutions can you eliminate?
  • What is the most workable solution?

5. Monitor the results of your plan.

  • How well is your solution working?
  • Did anything unexpected happen?
  • Are there any adverse effects?

To think creatively about a problem, your homeschoolers have to develop a deep understanding of the central concept and issues. In order to foster an environment where creative thinking is encouraged, provide the following conditions in your home school:

Time

Allow lots of uninterrupted time with no distractions so that your homeschoolers can really think about the issue. Give less work so that they can go deep. Eliminate distractions (I know this is difficult). Give them time to concentrate so that those creative juices flow. They needs time to absorb all the facts of the situation and imagine solutions.

Place

You’ve probably heard this before, but we really do need a quiet place to engage in deep thinking. My kids work all over the house, both inside and outside, but when they need to really concentrate, they go to their “quiet places.” Meredith goes to her room and closes the door, and Connor disappears in the study. There’s also some value in going to the same quiet place each time they want to do some serious thinking because every time they reenter that place, the memory of prior “ah hah” moments will trigger a similar eureka moment this time.

So where does creative thinking factor into these five problem-solving steps? People who think creatively come up with alternatives and solutions that are not the norm. Creative thinkers illuminate the crux of the problem. Creative thinkers innovate when it comes to alternatives. Creative thinkers imagine a better solution. Once a little creativity has been applied to the problem, a critical analysis of the problem, alternatives, and solution can be performed. The more creative thinking your child does, the more ideas he’ll produce. The more creative ideas your child produces, the more skilled he’ll become. The more skilled he becomes, the more satisfying his sense of accomplishment will be. The more satisfying his accomplishments, the more he will love learning! So you see?  Homeschoolers can think critically and creatively!