Susan Engel has written a thought-provoking op-ed piece for the New York Times on how we should reform our current educational approach and curriculum. She has given me food for thought in terms of my homeschooling approach. Suffice it to say, I may think twice before I demand Kipp drop his endless building to recite the months of the year or the continents. He's probably learning something far more valuable.
Playing to Learn
This article was so perfect for me today. I was struggling to get in the mood to crack down and "teach" the boys. They were busy designing Lego cars for their demolition derby. Thanks for the guilt removal!
The idea behind the article fits so well with the style of homeschooling I'm striving to develop. "Narrowly designed and deeply focused goals"...that sounds perfect to me.
Yes, what really caught my attention was the idea that we are wasting time with teaching large amounts of facts. I rebel against that aspect of homeschooling. I'd much rather discuss concepts and ideas. For myself, I tend to look facts up on the internet when I need that sort of information. So, wasting the boys' time on that sort of thing when they would rather be building and experimenting makes little sense to me.