Monthly Archives: October 2014

Five Ways to Make Sure Your Child Hates Homeschooling

Posted in Homeschooling, Teaching, Unschooling by

There is a strong correlation between the way children feel about homeschooling and the sustainability of their home schools. If your child enjoys homeschooling, it’s likely your family will enjoy the benefits of homeschooling for many years to come. But, if your child strongly dislikes homeschooling, your homeschool is destined to fail.

If you want your homeschool to thrive and last long into the future, it’s important to work hard to create an engaging homeschool program and environment that appeals to your children. If that’s not important to you, then consider the following:

Five Ways To Make Sure Your Child Hates Homeschooling

1. Mimic the calendar and school day of a traditional school.

One of the advantages of individualized learning is that children can learn more and in less time in home schools than they can in traditional schools. Don’t use the extra time you have to wear out your children with extra lessons.

2. Make sure you so tightly control your child’s social life that he/she doesn’t have one.

Most children desire to spend time with other children and, to a child, school seems like the most obvious place to make friends. As your child ages, homeschool parents need to make it a priority to carve out more and more time during the week for children to spend time with other children.

3. Pick curriculums that are more demanding, than they are effective.

There are many curriculums available that pride themselves on being “rigorous” and “complete.” These curriculums are typically dull and exhausting Avoid them in favor of books and homeschool programs that are interesting and inspiring. And, remember, curriculums that work well will naturally feel “easy” to children. “Easy” is good. “Easy” is your friend.

4. Designate so much time to formal schooling that your child never has the time (or the will) to engage in interesting and beneficial activities available outside the home.

A homeschooler’s year should be liberally peppered with trips, field trips, and activities outside the home. Activities like sports teams, scouting groups, and theater programs should be given priority, not just an afterthought. Schedule your child’s activities first, then schedule academic studies in the time that remains.

5. Turn your home into a school.

Avoid the trappings of formal schools. Your child doesn’t have to get up early. He doesn’t need to get dressed for the day right away. He doesn’t need a schoolroom or even a designated area for school. Instead, utilize the comforts (both physical and emotional) of home. It’s fine for a child to get up later that his school counterparts, eat a leisurely breakfast, and do school on his bed. These things will not doom him to a life of laziness and indifference later on. They simply are the benefits of doing school at home.

If you homeschool your children in a way that takes full advantage of the many benefits and pleasures of homeschooling, it’s likely your children will want to continue homeschooling. This is of critical importance. Because if your child likes and embraces homeschooling, it’s likely that your homeschool will continue far into the future.

Until next time…Be fearless.

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The Way Learning is Supposed to Happen (At the Point of Need)

Posted in Homeschooling, Teaching, Teaching Approaches, Unschooling by

This past week my college-aged son, Jesse, had a doozy of a week. He had two major tests and a large presentation he had to fit in along with a multitude of other on and off-campus responsibilities. In the thick of it all, he called me and asked if I could help him study for one of the tests.

I was a little surprised to get the call, but also pleased that I could help. I immediately cleared my schedule that evening and waited for my son to make the 20-minute trek home to study.

As it turned out, Jesse needed help with his Business Law class. I’m not strong on “business,” but I’m pretty good with “law.” So Jesse pulled out a study guide for his test and we went over it together. There were two things that stood out to me about this study session:

First, it surprised me how little Jesse knew about basic governmental law and function. Given that I was Jesse’s homeschool teacher, I could have felt bad about that, but I refused to. I’m pretty sure I made an effort to teach these basic notions, but Jesse simply didn’t pick them up.

But the second thing that surprised me was far more significant (and positive): At 21 years of age and with a difficult test staring him in the face, Jesse could learn at lightening speed. Within an hour, Jesse had mastered the information on the study guide, understood it, and could apply it. He then promptly fixed himself a snack, thanked me, and hurried out the door.

Lest you think Jesse really didn’t have that much to learn in that hour, let me assure you he did. The first question in his study guide concerned the U.S. Constitution and Jesse knew little about it.  The second question mentioned the “balance of power” among the “three branches of government” and Jesse had never heard of either. When I used words like “judiciary,” “executive,” and “legislative” to describe the three branches, he looked at me with blank stares. Each term had to be broken down and further explained. We pretty much had to start from scratch when it came to understanding basic governmental function. Only after he mastered the basics could he move on to the more complex Business Law principles addressed in the study guide.

But what would have taken a long time to learn in fourth grade (the grade when the these concepts are typically introduced) took just a few minutes for a 21-year-old. Not only that, but Jesse immediately understood the principles involved and was able to apply them. By the end of our one-hour study time together, Jesse could explain the different facets of complicated business law cases. He could predict the outcomes of those cases based on precedent and case law. And he could identify the different schools of jurisprudence utilized by various judges and attorneys.

This brings home a point I have long made: People—both children and adults—learn best (and maybe only) when they need and want to learn.

Forcing children to struggle with complicated subjects like the balance of powers and constitutional law when they are 10 years old makes no sense at all. There is no interest and no ability to understand something so distantly related to the life of a child. Even memorization at this age is more difficult than it is later on.

Education would be far more simple and beneficial if we let children learn at their own pace and as they encounter the need for learning. It’s funny, but my kids don’t have any trouble figuring out how to work any of our home electronics. They surf the Internet and manage social media like pros. Complicated computer gaming is a snap. They learn these things because they either want or need to. They retain the learning because they utilize it every day.

This is exactly how learning works in the real world. I remember my daughter’s first day on the job in a professional position following her college graduation. Kelsey came home in a panic saying her college classes in graphic design had not prepared her for the expectations of her graphic design job. She was being asked to make decisions and do things she didn’t know anything about. So what did she do? That night, her first night on the job, she desperately called a man from our church who worked in the same industry and pelted him with questions. The next day she returned to work armed with a plan.

I have lots of mantras in my homeschool. One of them is this: “Why do something hard today when you can do it easy tomorrow?”

In other words, don’t spend long hours forcing children to learn things they can easily (and better) learn later on. It’s not wise to frustrate children this way and it’s not smart to waste their time either. If the subject matter is difficult and you are having to teach and re-teach, set it aside. The time is not right.

Some teachers get this concept and will delay learning for awhile, but they get nervous as high school graduation nears . So they re-tackle difficult and unnecessary subject matter. They are worried about “holes” and “gaps” in education, fretting about what will happen if they miss teaching something that will come up later.

Well, here’s what will happen: Your children will do what Jesse and Kelsey did. They will figure it out for themselves.

They may have to do a little extra work. They may have to stay up a little later studying for a test or preparing for a work project. They may even have to call you, or another family member or friend, and ask for help. But they WILL figure it out because now, and only now, they HAVE to. That need ensures success like your random school lessons never could.

Until next time…be fearless.