Another question we're frequently asked about homeschooling is whether we plan to keep ahead or even just keep up with the goblins in each subject we cover--i.e. do we plan to keep our knowledge of each subject ahead of or at least equal to the goblins' progress? This question comes up frequently in homeschooling groups or forums as well, and I'm continually surprised by how many respond that they don't feel any need to stay ahead or keep up after a certain point, often the beginning of the high school years. This seems to come up most often in regard to math, and many parents (but not most) freely admit that their children have surpassed them so they just buy the textbooks and leave the kids to it.
We certainly do plan to stay ahead of the goblins' progress in all subjects. For the most part, we don't need to remediate ourselves because we're well past high school level in the standard subjects (English, math, science, and history), but I'm teaching myself Latin in advance of their beginning it because that subject is new to me. I also taught myself cursive italic, partly because I feel strongly about the importance of mastering a subject before teaching it and also because my cursive was somewhere between terrible and non-existent at the time.
I consider dialog to be one of the most important aspects of education. It's certainly possible to self-teach in isolation (as I am in teaching myself Latin), but it seems to me to be the least ideal method due to the lack of discussion. Without a mentor or partner with at least equal understanding, a student's understanding is limited to what the student can make of the material themselves. Very often, particularly in math, students think they understand a concept, but without without oversight might actually just be going through the motions, not developing true understanding. Math concepts build upon one another endlessly, and a weak spot in the foundation will lead to difficulty later.
Again in math, but applicable to all disciplines, the need for multiple perspectives is great. Almost all problems in math can be approached in more than one way, and while it's possible to master one approach and use it in all situations for a while, it is done at the expense of deeper understanding and will eventually require remediation. What truly sets those with great mathematical ability apart is their ability to approach the same problem from multiple perspectives: being able to look at a terribly difficult problem and break it down into many smaller and more manageable problems, then solve those and reconvene, is absolutely essential to achievement in higher mathematics.
There are always examples of kids for whom self-teaching works just fine, but those students are rare and I'm not convinced that most of the time they wouldn't do even better with a mentor, especially in skill areas such as math and writing. The drive to learn, even in the absence of a mentor, will serve those students well all their lives but can't entirely make up the difference. I don't mean to suggest, however, that students left to self-teach in the later years are necessarily worse off than they would be in a school. I certainly don't believe that a bad teacher is better than no teacher, and would vehemently argue the opposite. Not all teachers are suitable, and not all homeschooling parents can successfully teach the more advanced subjects. One of the great advantages of homeschooling, however, is the option to outsource material that the parent isn't qualified to teach, or for whatever other reason chooses not to. With my own school schedule I currently don't have the time to properly teach science, for example, so the goblins take science classes; I don't know jujitsu or ballet, so off they go, etc. Homeschooling is not and should not be an all-or-nothing choice.
We certainly do plan to stay ahead of the goblins' progress in all subjects. For the most part, we don't need to remediate ourselves because we're well past high school level in the standard subjects (English, math, science, and history), but I'm teaching myself Latin in advance of their beginning it because that subject is new to me. I also taught myself cursive italic, partly because I feel strongly about the importance of mastering a subject before teaching it and also because my cursive was somewhere between terrible and non-existent at the time.
I consider dialog to be one of the most important aspects of education. It's certainly possible to self-teach in isolation (as I am in teaching myself Latin), but it seems to me to be the least ideal method due to the lack of discussion. Without a mentor or partner with at least equal understanding, a student's understanding is limited to what the student can make of the material themselves. Very often, particularly in math, students think they understand a concept, but without without oversight might actually just be going through the motions, not developing true understanding. Math concepts build upon one another endlessly, and a weak spot in the foundation will lead to difficulty later.
Again in math, but applicable to all disciplines, the need for multiple perspectives is great. Almost all problems in math can be approached in more than one way, and while it's possible to master one approach and use it in all situations for a while, it is done at the expense of deeper understanding and will eventually require remediation. What truly sets those with great mathematical ability apart is their ability to approach the same problem from multiple perspectives: being able to look at a terribly difficult problem and break it down into many smaller and more manageable problems, then solve those and reconvene, is absolutely essential to achievement in higher mathematics.
There are always examples of kids for whom self-teaching works just fine, but those students are rare and I'm not convinced that most of the time they wouldn't do even better with a mentor, especially in skill areas such as math and writing. The drive to learn, even in the absence of a mentor, will serve those students well all their lives but can't entirely make up the difference. I don't mean to suggest, however, that students left to self-teach in the later years are necessarily worse off than they would be in a school. I certainly don't believe that a bad teacher is better than no teacher, and would vehemently argue the opposite. Not all teachers are suitable, and not all homeschooling parents can successfully teach the more advanced subjects. One of the great advantages of homeschooling, however, is the option to outsource material that the parent isn't qualified to teach, or for whatever other reason chooses not to. With my own school schedule I currently don't have the time to properly teach science, for example, so the goblins take science classes; I don't know jujitsu or ballet, so off they go, etc. Homeschooling is not and should not be an all-or-nothing choice.
2 comments:
I get this question a lot, too. I sometimes work ahead and sometimes I'm learning it along with them. If I'm stumped, we look it up. For the most part, I'm confident I'll be ahead of them, but like you said on subjects I'm not familiar, I do need to work ahead. I don't know how to play chess, so I'm learning. I haven't looked at latin in mumble-mumble years, so I need to refresh. The same with grammar, etc. I don't want to replace some of my sloppy habits with good learning for them.
I'm also well aware that we will have some holes in our education. Just as there are holes in formal, institutional education. If I can help create a facility with self-learning in them, they'll be able to learn things they miss on their own.
When the kids are working on their own, I'm right there when they need me. Even if/when I just toss them a book, we're learning together all the time whether directly or indirectly.
And, I heartily agree that dialogue is important to a full, rich education. I think that's one of the strengths of homeschooling-its ability to work together in a self-tailored environment.
I'm totally with you on the learning as a family. While homeschooling and being undergrads at the same has its challenges, it seems to be good for the goblins to see us learning (and sometimes struggling), alongside them. We're hoping, like you, to create an expectation of and joy in lifelong learning.
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