In a USA Today editorial, Ruth Bettelheim suggested that schools are failing "because the natural learning behaviors of children are routinely penalized instead of praised." She further suggested that initiatives such as "No Child Left Behind" and "Race to the Top" will fail because they don't consider the research on how children learn.
How Do Children Learn?
In "Why Our Kids Don't Go to Kindergarten," Salon writer, Andrew O'Hehir, stated that "American public education, especially in the early grades, has become dominated by a bizarre orthodoxy that is almost completely unsupported by rigorous research, or for that matter by teachers, education professionals and child psychologists." O'Hehir cited a 2009 Alliance for Childhood study which stated that "Children now spend far more time being taught and tested on literacy and math skills than they do learning through play and exploration, exercising their bodies, and using their imaginations."
In a Psychology Today blog, "Freedom to Learn," Peter Gray, a research psychologist at Boston College, explores the roles of play and curiosity as foundations for learning. Gray's posts included titles such as "Kids Learn Math Easily When They Control Their Own Learning," "Children Teach Themselves to Read," and "Minimally Invasive Education." A common thread throughout Gray's posts is that children are born with an instinctive drive to learn. He describes the purpose of his blog as "primarily about these drives and ways by which we could create learning environments that optimize rather than repress them."
In a Yes! Magazine article, "Take Back Your Education," educational activist John Taylor Gatto spoke about the classical education approach, which he described as one that "teaches independent thought, appreciation for great works, and an experience of the world not found within the confines of a classroom. It was an education that is missing in public schools today but still exists in many private schools – and can for you and your children, too, if you take time to learn how to learn."
Children learn by following their curiosity, through play and exploration, and through experience.
Is Your Homeschooling Method Modeled After Conventional Schooling?
Here are some questions to help determine if your homeschooling practices get in the way of natural learning or if they optimize it.
According to Peter Gray, children are born with an instinctive drive to educate themselves, yet they are failing under conventional schooling methods. Conventional schooling forces children to apply themselves toward subjects and skills development on a schedule without regard to whether or not their energy compels them in that direction at that time, and whether or not they are ready to progress in a particular skill. Do you allow your children to follow their instincts or do you urge them to act against their instincts by following a mandatory curriculum? Do you take your children's interests into consideration when planning their activities?
Ruth Bettelheim said that "Freedom to make mistakes and benefit from them is the basis of intellectual growth," yet conventional schooling methods penalize mistakes. Do you convey to your children an acceptance of mistakes as a valuable part of the learning process?
Teachers as Facilitators
Bettelheim suggested the Montessori approach to education. John Taylor Gatto recommended a classical approach. John Holt, a former educator and homeschooling advocate, created his own philosophy which he called "unschooling," based on his observations of children successfully learning in their own ways with adults as available facilitators rather than teachers.
Bettelheim suggested that "teachers should act as facilitators, introducing individual students to new concepts based on their interests and developmental state. Children should be free to move around and to choose when, for how long and with whom they will work at each task. Instead of being told facts, children should learn by acting on instructional materials, experimenting and observing until answers are found."
The common thread among these educational ideas is consideration of each individual child's interests and acknowledgment of the natural desire to learn. Do your homeschoolers have the freedom to follow their instinctual drives to learn, to ask for your help because they truly want it, to play, and to make mistakes? Do your homeschooling practices repress or optimize natural learning behaviors?
You might also enjoy: The Unschooling Collection
Sources:
Bettelheim, Ruth. "Outdated Teaching is Failing Our Children." USA Today, Nov 10, 2010.
Gatto, John Taylor. "Take Back Your Education," Yes! Magazine, Sep 9, 2009.
O'Hehir, Andrew. "Why Our Kids Don't Go to Kindergarten," Salon, Mar 15, 2010.
Miller, Edward and Joan Alman. Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School. Alliance for Childhood, 2009.
Sara McGrath - Sara is a veteran homeschool mom of three, Usborne consultant, and the author of Unschooling: A Lifestyle of Learning.
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