Estimated reading time: 7 minute(s)
I always thought that word had something to do with Macadamia nuts, or vice versa. But, that’s for another blog.
We were chatting tonight about our son Ian’s reading abilities. He’s phenomenal. During last weekend’s visit with Grandma & Grandpa, Ian was reading like crazy because he loves it, and equally wowing the grandparents as he did. He is only six years old and can read just about anything he picks up. A very smart little boy, and if you compared reading ability and comprehension skills, he would beat just about anyone in his age group, and probably several years older.
Why is that, I wondered? Is it because he’s super smart? Yes. His memory (which I suppose is connected to other intellectual capabilities) is simply outstanding. He effortlessly remembers details that would be hard for me (who also has a fairly decent memory) to retain after studying the subject. He routinely has us shaking our heads in disbelief at his retention prowess.
But it’s more than that. I am not ready to say Ian is so super special, that he is somehow specially gifted and that is how he excels far above his peers. I love my son, and I think he’s got some amazing gifts from God built into him, but I think that’s selling everyone else a little short. Ian has not always liked to read. He used to dislike it very much. He does not like to get things wrong (which is very much like his Dad) and so, he would not even try. It was very hard to get him started, but after some gentle coaxing from Mom, he discovered many new, exciting worlds through reading. And now, he’s fantastic! As I have mentioned, he is far beyond many of his peers in that academic skill.
Which leads me back to why.
Now, bear with me here. I am not a wacko who thinks everyone should homeschool or (1) you’re not a Christian, or (2) if you’re already not a Christian, then you just don’t love your kids if you don’t homeschool. However, I’d like to put in a little plug for the way we have chosen to mentor and train, or “educate” our kids.
I believe that Ian has excelled because of his learning environment. It’s not the institutional setting of academia, as most of his peers, where 20-30 or more kids all try and learn academic skills and knowledge via one 20-something teacher who is giving his or her all to impart these skills to the kids. Ian’s learning environment is … life. He is never really in school or out of school. Yes, there are times during the day when Jen will sit down and work on academic skills (such as reading and writing, or math) but those times are pretty limited. The real learning comes as life happens. And the teaching is more of a mentor/apprentice relationship, rather than a presenter of knowledge, facilitating the absorption of facts and information. Ian is taught the facts in the course of life every day within a family who loves him.
That, to me, seems so different from what we think of as education. And, I am speaking now as a student and product of such a system. I survived the educational institution and have not suffered any long term damage that I am aware of. (Which some people point to as a reason not to home school, but that’s sort of like being on an airplane that you knew had several mechanical defects, and encouraging people not to choose alternate means of transportation because the plane didn’t crash with you on it yet.) We are so concerned with transferring all of the facts and intellectual knowledge we have attained over the years, that our educational system has become only that: a means of filling young minds with information.
The institutional structure somewhat necessitates that. If you have 1000 kids from so many different backgrounds in life, and you are bring them together in one place to “teach” them, then you are not really going to ever agree on any sort of life training, such as moral, or ethical, or spiritual beliefs. So, we try to steer clear of those and create as sterile a package as possible, which, to a degree makes sense. Except for the fact that we are not computers, who can just be filled with data, and then perform at peak capacity. We are more than that.
But in such a public setting, true discipleship (which, means teaching, training) can not happen effectively. Sometimes it happens as a side product. My wife and I fondly remember our high school Chorale teacher. (That made him sound dead… as far as I know he’s still alive and kickin’…) He did more than teach, he definitely shared his life with his students as well. I think we learned more from him than just how to sing. And there are lots of great people in the system, who are trying to do more than teach. But, when we create a place where the teachers (who could be like mentors) are restricted from even touching students (such as a hug, or an encouraging pat on the shoulder), then we are depriving the students of a much richer learning environment.
History is not facts. History is people. Reading is not a means to more input, it is a bridge to other people’s hearts and minds. Math is important, but only secondary at best to learning to live selflessly and consider other people even ahead of yourself. You can’t learn those things in a classroom. They are not imparted through academia. Life is only learned by observing it in action, and then living it.
Life is meant to be lived.
This is nothing new. Every time I get a chance to think through something that at least seems new to me, I usually end up realizing that someone else has been here before. But, mostly when I consider it worthy of exploring through these writings, it is something that I feel we generally have not gotten right, even if someone (or many someones) have already been here before. So what do we do? Should everyone homeschool their kids, and that would make the world a better place? Well, based on how I feel about that, I would say yes. But, the world is a great place because God made us all differently, and gave us the amazing gift of choice. So, I would have to intellectually disagree with my own conclusion. š
However, I do feel so strongly that we are so focused on the wrong thing. If we want to help our kids prepare for life… we must shift our focus. Life is not about facts, but about relationship. We are built to relate. We learn through relationships. Mentor, student, apprentice, teacher. We are made to excel through hands on discipleship, one-on-one, rather than mass dissemination of information. Academia has missed the true fullness of education. I think we do a fine job of passing along the facts. But we have tied our hands by virtue of the system we have created as far as equipping kids for life.
Academia is a reality we have manufactured that does not allow our kids to excel, but I would argue, holds them back, and teaches them that wisdom is correspondent to the amount of knowledge we have managed to pack into our cranium. It’s not. Real education incorporates academic skills and knowledge into a much bigger package, that is lived out everyday. Every day life is full of chances to learn, and to live that out. To make decisions based on what you have learned so far. To me, that is superior to a passing grade on a test, or knowing the right answer to a question.
I think Ian is a testament to that. And he could tell you, after he’s done reading this.
I totally agree that academia needs to be holistic (yes, it’s spelled right) and that it needs to incorporate all aspects of life. I do not, however, agree that homeschooling is the way to make it work.
All the homeschool kids I’ve ever met, with a few exceptions, have been … odd. Like, they don’t know how to function around people very well. They spend their days cooped up inside with their parent(s) and essentially learn to isolate themselves from society.
The few exceptions that I know of are products of what you’re doing with your kids – you involve them in their community through your gigs with BASIC, you involve them with other people and make sure they know it’s important. My friend Steph was one such kid, she didn’t seem maladapted to the world at all.
On the other hand, my wife’s nephews are often loud, obnoxious, and generally irritating to anyone around them because they never have other kids to be with – they spend all their time with mom at home and, in the end, will have learned to depend on their mother for everything instead of learning the skills to thrive in the world that we call home.
I would say that for the most part, academic homeschool has to be accompanied by some sort of social interaction (which you called “life”) and that’s why academia was created in the first place – to allow a more efficient means of teaching children and melding them into a social environment. In other words, it’s supposed to do what you’re saying it should – it’s just that it’s gotten messed up along with the rest of the world.Most parents who homeschool do so because they don’t like the idea of their precious kids interacting with the heathen masses in the public school system.
Long story short, I like what you get to do with your kids, and I’m glad you get to do that with them. I’m still sending my kids to a school (when I have them) and hope that the values my wife and I have taught them keep them on the right track, and the relationship I have with my kids helps them reach their mental and academic potential, along with the rest of them. Speaking as a product of THAT system, I feel like it’s the best way to go …
fascinating post, by the way …
Chris,
I must say that I’d like to know how many homeschool kids you’ve ever met. I know hundreds of them and have the exact opposite opinion. In fact, I’m starting to think of public school kids as odd because most of them can only interact well with kids in their own peer group. On the other hand most, not all, homeschool kids I know are as comfortable taking care of a baby as they are talking with an elderly person. Where did you get your information on homeschoolers? How can you say why MOST homeschoolers keep the kids at home? Again, I know a bunch of homeschoolers and what you’re talking about isn’t the motivation behind any of them. In fact a bunch of the homeschoolers I know are part of the “heathen masses”. I don’t mean to sound hostile, but I’m really tired of people with little or no emperical data talking bad about homeschooling. If you want to make claims like these you need to back them up. There have been a few studies that somewhat agree with your claims, but the proof is in the pudding. Talk to some adults who were homeschooled. Talk to the admissions department at Stanford and ask them why they recruit homeschooled kids.
Greg, you probably saw this coming. I just hope Amy doesn’t read Chris’s post. She’ll fill your blog wih quotes and facts and figures.
Chris, I’m sorry you haven’t met the group of homeschooled children I know. They’re really impressive.
Check out these links; they speak volumes.
http://home-educate.com/unschooling/lettertorelatives.htm
http://www.hslda.org/research/ray2003/default.asp
I could write a big reply but Iāll refrain. Youāll notice the second link is actual research not someoneās feeling or ideas.
And Chrisā¦Never say never. Keep an open mind and let Christ lead you even in the educating of your future children. He may say itās just fine for you to use the system but then again he may not. You need to be prepared either way. I’m guessing that homeschooling is not your wife’s nephew’s problem. They would probably be the same no matter which education path they took. It sounds like a parenting issue to me.
Greg, After reading your posts on ‘the church’ and ‘homeschooling’ back-to-back; I noticed a paralell I want to mention. Maybe you are already aware of it…. [My thought are in the brackets]
You wrote, “If we want to help our kids [followers of Christ] prepare for life [being the church]… we must shift our focus. Life [church]is not about facts, but about relationship [EXACTLY]. We are built [created] to relate [to one another]. We learn through relationships. Mentor, student, apprentice, teacher. We are made to excel through hands on discipleship, one-on-one, rather than mass dissemination of information. Academia [the institutional church] has missed the true fullness of education [the Body]. I think we do a fine job of passing along the facts [aka bible stories and such]. But we have tied our hands by virtue of the system [‘church’] we have created as far as equipping kids [followers] for life.
Academia is a reality we have manufactured that does not allow our kids to excel, but I would argue, holds them back, and teaches them that wisdom is correspondent to the amount of knowledge we have managed to pack into our cranium. [i keep this word for word, but think ‘church’ instead of school when reading]It’s not. Real education [church]incorporates academic skills and [head] knowledge into a much bigger package [the Body without borders], that is lived out everyday. Every day life is full of chances to learn, and to live that out. To make decisions based on what you have learned so far.”
Notice the similarities?
Also, I would love to home school [or un-school, as I’ve heard it called], but my husband isn’t for it. I would ask Chris if it’s possible those difficult kids he mentioned would be just as ‘active’ regardless of their schooling. That might just be who they are. I can tell him, from someone who has been through public school and has a 12 year old in 7th grade, p.s. kids are some of the most hyperactive, overly energenic people i have ever met. Remember, they have been locked in classrooms for 6 or more hours a day, being told to sit still and be quiet and subdue the energy that comes so naturally at these young ages, that when they come home it is as if they are exploding!
I can only imagine how natural it would feel to utilize that energy during daylight hours in a naturally active environment and be at rest in the dinnertime, relaxation, visiting hours when family members share and interact.
Thanks for sharing Greg. – Alisa