If you are a parent who is new to homeschooling, fear not! Although it may seem like a lot of work, the benefits can be tremendous.
Homeschooling has gained even more traction in the last year since the Covid shutdowns of school buildings across America. Just one example: in August 2020 in the metro area of Phoenix, Arizona, there was a tripling of the number of homeschooled children – in other words, three times more kids opted out of going to school and opted in to staying at home and learning on their own or with the help of their parents and private tutors.
Homeschooling is still seen by many as an anomaly, as something less valuable than conventional schooling; however, conventional compulsory schooling has existed in America for only just over a century. In fact, many educators have been outspoken about the benefits of learning outside of the confines of a school.
John Taylor Gatto was thrice the New York City teacher of the year and was also the New York State teacher of the year. After a thirty-year illustrious career in the classroom, in his opinion, there was so much more learning potential in the “real world”, while in school there was so much time responding to bells and sitting quietly in boredom – and also so little time for play. According to Gatto, “Play teaches many other things we expect to find in the educated, things which strike one by their absence in common forms of schooling. Play teaches empathy, how to endure, how to have leisure, adventure, independence, self-reliance, and more.”
(Interestingly, the English word “school” originates in the ancient Greek word “skhole”, which meant spare time, leisure, rest, ease; idleness; that in which leisure is employed; learned discussion.)
John Holt was a former schoolteacher who dedicated a lifetime of work and scholarship to homeschooling and “unschooling”. Holt is credited with coining the term. Unschooling is not “un-learning” but is in fact quite the opposite. Holt described it as an education of a child that is “interest-driven, child-led, natural, organic, eclectic or self-directed learning.” It is the intersection of leisure and interest with learning and intellectual growth.
Many parents who initially choose to “homeschool” are not aware that “learning” is not the same thing as “school.” And so they strive to mimic the schooling experience, with prescribed times of classes of specific and delineated subjects (e.g., Math, Reading, Writing, Science, Social Studies). In fact, many parents get frustrated by the lack of progress with a homeschooling atmosphere that attempts to recreate “school” and discover that the real learning happens, often spontaneously, when the kids are genuinely intrigued and are allowed space and time and movement to investigate and learn and grow – more on their own with guidance from adults, rather than being instructed by an adult.
There are many, many possibilities for learning. More Than A Score believes every child has an innate learning spirit. Whichever road you choose (conventional schooling, homeschooling, unschooling), we are here to answer any questions you have and to support you the path you choose for your children and yourself.