Just a few
notes and hyperlinks about Homeschooling
January 2008
- Recently my wife and I were talking about the rigors of homeschooling our
kids and how tempting it is to just enroll the kids into the local public
school. We happen to live in an area
where the public school system has a relatively excellent reputation. And the way we do homeschooling is often not
easy. My wife named off the three of
the most impressive young ladies we know—Heidi S., Elizabeth P., Abby S.—and
said she was unable to imagine a young woman being able to come out so impressive in character, in
spirit, in respectfulness, in respectability, and innocence if they weren’t
homeschooled. Having also been
immensely impressed with the character of those three young ladies she
mentioned, my resolve to continue homeschooling was reinvigorated. I hope that my daughters can turn out to have
a similar inner beauty, strength, creativity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeschooling
Provocative book:
Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore – The Successful Homeschool Family
Handbook
http://www.moorefoundation.com/
http://www.moorefoundation.com/article.php?id=3
How to teach with low
stress, low cost, high success and behavior
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_S._and_Dorothy_N._Moore_Foundation
Moore's contribution to education is
best known for their emphasis on the philosophy that children, especially boys,
need individualized attention, chiefly between the ages of 5 and 10. Even those with
high intelligence have many times not reached IML (Integrated Maturity Level)
at the same rate as their age mates. The Moore Academy does not advocate that
they should have no education while they are in this early maturing stage;
however, a no-stress
approach is urged, with much emphasis on social studies and science,
arts and crafts, and music appreciation. We believe phonics can be taught, but without pressure to perform,
and with an easy, fun approach that uses learning activities, followed by
phonetic readers. Writing is another "pressure-point" that deserves
care in instruction. Writing in cornmeal, or sand, sky writing, and lots of
dictating to Mom helps to bridge the gap between ability and performance. Math
is also taught with lots of hands-on manipulatives, and real-life applications.
To
summarize the success of the Moore Formula approach
to education: High success comes when close individual attention is paid to the needs of the student,
following their interests and allowing them to mature at their own rate,
with emphasis on work (for pay), and service (in the home and in the community)
with these non-academic learning opportunities receiving equal time to book
learning. As the children learn to be diligent in their work application, it
has been demonstrated that this diligence carries over into their academic
performance as well as they mature.
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The
Smithsonian Institution's study
of twenty world-class geniuses stressed three factors: 1) warm, loving,
educationally responsive parents and other adults; 2) scant association outside
the family, and 3) a great deal of creative freedom under parental guidance to
explore their ideas, drilling as necessary. These ingredients for genius
are a mixture of head, hand, heart, and health. Mixed in with balance, and your sound example,
they bring out great characters and personalities. So we encourage you to unite
1) study, 2) work (and entrepreneurship) with 3) home and community service.
HOW TO
BEGIN. First, don't
subject your children to formal, scheduled study before age 8 to 10 or 12,
whether they can read or not. To any who differ, as their evidence let them
read Better Late Than Early (BLTE) or School Can Wait (SCW). In addition to our
basic research at Stanford and the University of Colorado Medical School, we
analyzed over 8000 studies of children's senses, brain, cognition,
socialization, etc., and are certain that no replicable evidence exists
for rushing children into formal study at home or school before 8 or 10.
On http://TED.com, search for: Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill
creativity?
http://school.familyeducation.com/home-schooling/human-relations/56224.html
Social Skills and Homeschooling: Myths and Facts
http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/15CSGDS8EX029
http://www.amazon.com/Great-Homeschooling-Books/lm/2HM5WWGJOGPTF/ref=cm_lmt_fvsy_f_2_rysdsd0