Comments on: What can public schools learn from homeschools?

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Recent Links Tagged With "schank" - JabberTags — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:19:32 +0000

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By: Susan

Susan — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 16:08:45 +0000

Nice list, Dana
The biggies that come readily to my mind are subsets of your list…

TIME to pursue passions – reading books the child is thrilled with, building a huge puzzle to completion, … whatever the passion of the moment is. Of course, school kids can do this, too, but they clearly have LESS time to do so, not to mention the weariness that seems to accompany a full day at school.

Self-identity – NOT determined by others. My kids have a greater ability just to be themselves and not to worry about how other’s perceive them moment by moment for hours at a time.
Cue-ing off your idea of having TIME to develop … my firstborn was reading fluently by age 5 woohoo!!). My second born did not begin reading fluently til almost age 7.5, and not until recently did he discover his total passion for reading. At no time (I think) did he need to suffer self-esteem or inadequacy issues due to this late reading. (again, woohoo!).

Happy Friday to you….

By: Leslie

Leslie — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:59:32 +0000

Doing stuff- not just reading about it. Volunteering or appreticeships. Hanging with adults to learn how to be an adult. Problem solving- not just being told what to do. Thinking about things- not just being told what to think.
I could go on and on.

By: Dana Hanley

Dana Hanley — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:24:00 +0000

That does sound like fun. Here is mine:

Play outside. Lots.

By: MichielleRose

MichielleRose — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:56:01 +0000

I really liked

The Well Trained Mind,

The Charlotte Mason Series

and believe it or not a few homeschooling catalogs: Sonlight, Elijah Company (which no longer exists but I still have.)

homeschool blogs are a great resource as well.

By: Life On The Planet

Life On The Planet — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:45:55 +0000

Three more words.

Sleep until eight.

By: suburbancorrespondent

suburbancorrespondent — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:26:35 +0000

I “third” the Guterson book. This is one of many homeschooling books that are more inspirational than how-to. I love that type. Don’t forget “Dumbing Us Down” by John Taylor Gatto – that’s another classic. Speaking of classics, there are the books by the Moores – Better Late Than Early (condensed in the Reader’s Digest, it brought the homeschooling movement way out in the open) and The Homeschool Family’s Handbook. Fantastic!

By: Sebastian (a lady)

Sebastian (a lady) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:42:34 +0000

What about integration of subjects across the curriculum. That was the sort of buzzword that we used in my MS Ed days (which was the same time that I was deciding to stay home with my first kid and to homeschool). Much of what I would hold up as vibrant homeschooling is just the sort of idyllic educational experience that teachers long for.
History and literature selections that support each other. This shows up in lots of homeschools. We are studying WWII so we are reading non-fiction, fiction and biographies from that period. And we are reading lots.
Hands on experiences and field trips. We don’t just read books, we go and see and go and do. In an era when many schools are abandoning field trips as too hard, too expensive and too difficult to justify by a standard of learning line item, we can just pick up and go. Didn’t get enough out of one visit. That’s ok, we’ll get a family membership and come back every couple months.
Individualization. I not only have the ability to pick curriculum that fits my kids, I can pick what works best with each child. While it isn’t uncommon for a family to reuse math or grammar with the next child, they are also free to choose something completely different, without having to check that it is one of five approved texts on the state list. Again, this is a mantra that you hear over and over in education schools, but that most school teachers aren’t actually able to implement. Of course, the economy of scale and production that a school represents would fall apart under the level of individualization that a homeschool can manage. What schools could (re)learn is that tracking students by their current ability does allow a more individualized instruction. Of course, you have to be willing to move kids around within the groupings as their abilities relative to the group change. But tracking has been shelved as an idea because it isn’t politically acceptable to suggest that all children aren’t capable of all things all the time.

By: JJ Ross

JJ Ross — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:34:48 +0000

Oh, can I play too LOTP?

Three words? Okay, I nominate “teaching isn’t learning.”

By: Life On The Planet

Life On The Planet — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:21:14 +0000

What can public schools learn from homeschoolers?

Three words.

Edible School Lunches.