Archive for June, 2010
As more parents have careers that allow them to work from home, home-schooling their children becomes realistic and advantageous alternative to traditional schooling.
The industrial revolution moved families off the farm and into the modern world. “This change meant children stopped spending all day with their parents and began being educated in the public schools. Skills and knowledge that were once quintessential to life slowly disappeared. Educators insisted that their knowledge was paramount. A definite but debatable repercussion of this new education philosophy was the breakdown of the family unit.”
During the 1800′s and 1900′s, education and educators evolved into a powerful source of education for our children. It is not suprising that it has been a mixed bag of results for our children, some good and some not.
Now change is again occuring, parents are returning to their homes to work. Technology has made it possible for parents to make a good income at home. They are also better able to support and educate their children. Traditional education methods of the last 200 years are being questioned and seen as out-dated.
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Traditional or Home-Schooling – What are the Differences: Part 2
posted by admin @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Yesterday we discussed the changing views regarding homeschooling and posed some questions about whether it could be right or not for your child.
In previous years, home schooling was often used by families of children confronted by circumstances that made it not possible for them to attend a traditional school. My son had many social problems when he transferred into a small local school. I removed him for a semester and my mother home schooled him. He was able to become a more focused and motivated learner, able to make up and advance beyond his class, and allowed first hand experiences through a variety of field trips. However, I was of the age where I felt he should “socialize” with his classmates and I felt guilty of handing this responsibility over to my mother. I put him back into the traditional school, a mistake that I regret to this day.
Are there advantages that can come out of home schooling?
- Being taught as an individual – at their pace, at their levels, addressing their specific needs,
- Having the instructor available when they need them,
- Not being compared to or competing against other students,
- Using materials that fit his individual learning style(s) and needs,
- Having more flexibility to study at their optimal times,
- Taking advantage of area-wide cultural activities,
- Promoting and supporting positive, healthy self-esteem.
- Creating a motivated life-long learner.
These seem like fairly good reasons to me!
Traditional or Home-Schooling – What are the Differences: Part 1
posted by admin @ 8:00 AM
Monday, June 14, 2010
To home school or not to home school has been a on-going question for many years. The effectiveness of home schooling has also been under a microscope for just as long. Recently, however, its popularity has increased as more more and more people support
this form of schooling.
For years, home schooling has been viewed negatively. People assumed it was for religious reasons, the social “misfits”, weirdos, educational challenged and trouble makers.
Today people are more open to home schooling their children. A growing number of parents are deciding to use some form of home study program for their children.
There are numberous reasons why this trend is gaining popularity. But what are they? What are the advantages and disadvantages of home schooling? How do you know if home schooling right for you and your child?
I want to share with you some quotes from inspired people in history and literature. These quotes have made me happy and given me something to think about. They have led me to decide to provide online education to children. I hope you will enjoy them as well.
This weeks quotes come from students who were involved in Project Tomorrow’s Speak-up. They refer to technology as it refers to learning.
“Technology is important to me bcause it helps me and others learn. I have trouble in math but was able to take online quizzes to help me. I was able to learn about my school through podcasts. If there’s a problem I don’t understand,I can ask my teacher on Moodle.”
– 8th Grade Girl, LIBERTY MIDDLE SCHOOL, AL
“For students of any age, technology would definitely benefit them in their work. With technology, they can search on information themselves and they can learn at their own pace without getting caught up in what someone else is saying, that way, they can understand things better. “
– 6th Grade Girl, COLUMBIA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, AL
“Technology is important not only as a productivity tool, but as a tool of expression and creativity. It is a medium of art and a tool for idea collaboration.”
– 12th Grade Boy, SPACKENKILL HIGH SCHOOL, NY
Virtual Learning is not a one-size-fits-all method of education, any more then the brick-and-mortar school fits all. However, there is a natural resistance to change in education which is slowly but surely changing. According to a recent report by the U.S.Department of Education, more then 1 million K-12 students took online courses during the 2007-2008 school year. And that number is growing at a rate of 20 to 45% each year.
This report also found that students that took course online either part time or entirely out-performed students taking the same courses in a brick-and-mortar class with only face-to-face instruction. In fact, it was found that the most effective approach to teaching today’s students is through a combination of both online and face-to-face instruction.
This type of instruction is called “hybrid” or “blended” and is one of three alternatives that has become increasingly popular with schools and their students and parents. This model allows students who do not wish to be full-time virtual learners to have their education supplemented with online courses that may fill gaps in the traditional school curriculum or offer a more individualized approach to students having a difficult time with traditional approaches. Technology allows these courses to be delivered in traditional school settings.
Offering options to how our children are taught is more likely to meet the multitude of needs and styles that schools face today. These options also feed into how our students want to learn.
A student sits infront of a computer, watches a video, answers multiple choice questions, gets a grade and moves on to the next task. They have no peer interaction, they have no interaction with a teacher, they remain indoors all day long and never participate in real world activities. This is the definition of virtual learning. True?
Unfortunately it is the picture that many parents, teachers and administrators continue to carry in their mind. However, more and more brick and mortar schools are exploring using virtual education full or part-time. In fact 45 of the 50 states, plus Washington, DC have state virutal schools, online initiative, full-time online schools or both. As of 2009, virtual schools are showing annual growth rates of between 20 and 45%. 72% of the school districts that currently have virtual educational programs are panning to expand their offerings next year.
Most online programs are extremely interactive with ongoing access and discussions with their teachers and peers. Students work on inquiry-based projects and activities. Frequently their learning may take place or be supplemented a brick-and-mortar experience.
Those that develop and supply online-education programs are working to deliver programs that meet the needs of the school districts, differentiate for student needs, and address budgetary constraints.
Susan Patrick, president of iNACOL states, “Today every student can access a world-class education with online courses taught by talented, qualified teachers at any location.”
Today’s students are not like any other in history. The amount of information they have available to them and the expectations for learning this knowledge can be over-whelming. Many of our schools and teachers are still trying to use 19th and 20th century materials and methods to teach our students. Therefore, it should not suprise us when we read that they are underperforming. 
We teach our students, test them, reteach them, try to motivate them, spend countless hours planning lessons and yet still they fall behind. What must we do to regain quality education for our students? How do we stop the downward slide?
The first thing we must do is to start to listen to what they are telling us and teach them with the tools and methods that they want to use. Technology is clearly what they are asking for.
Online education offers them current information rather then out-dated text books, interactive opportunities to solve problems with immediate feed-back rather then pencil and paper assignments that take days, sometimes weeks for results, direct and personalized contact with teachers, individualized attention to their problems, not the problems of others, and the ability to colaborate and network with not just those limited to a classroom but those within the world.
Using technology and educating online is not just for the few who might homeschool but can be blended with any school. Supplementing and supporting the public school would stop the downward slide in our student’s achievement. This fact is becoming more and more apparent as current research data on virtual learning and student achievement is being released.
Blending with Online Schools can also help those dwindling budgets schools face. They offer a cost effective alternative to how public schools currently teach. Think about eliminating the yearly cost of textbooks and support materials. Could the number of days in the brick and mortar school be shortened if online schooling was used? If so, what would that do to the cost of bussing? Or the maintanence and heating bills?
Imagine the possibilibies – Everybody wins.
If you have taken the initiative to home school your child, it is important that you follow up with your commitment. Conventional teachers are required to stay up-to-date with current teaching methods, changes in curriculum and current events; and as your child’s teacher, you should too. One of the most important ways to gauge your child’s progress and ensure that they are retaining the necessary information is through standardized tests for home schoolers.
While standardized tests certainly aren’t foolproof, they provide one of the best means of measuring a child’s progress. Using the results from your child’s standardized test, you can see which subjects they are excelling in and which ones need some work. Remember, home schooling often produces more apt students, but it takes a concerted effort from the teacher as well.
Our world is changing rapidly. In my day it was transportation that changed the way people looked at the world. Individuals no longer had to stay in the town of their birth, families started to travel and explore not only their state but their country and beyond. Remember, “See the USA in your Chevrolet”? And now, we all take it for granted because it is what we grew up with. We don’t know anything differently. And what of the introduction of television! But I wonder, did our parents and grandparents find it difficult to adjust to this new way of thinking and living?
Today’s children are growing up with new technologies that are changing the world as we know it again. By now, most everyone is accepting the term “digital natives” when describing our students of today. Technology surrounds them and they are as adept at using it as the Chinese use chop sticks.
Learning online and the technology used is a natural for our children. Our rapidly changing economy demands that our students have the skills and knowledge to compete when they graduate. Most business today are embedded with technology. Digital resources are expanding learning opportunities at a fantastic pace. Yet our classroom pedagogy has not changed much over the past 50 years. Schools struggle to meet the academic demands, are in financial distress, and yet they continue to put money into exiting approaches that no longer work. What are we doing? “Teaching Jetson kids with Flintstone technology”.
Up until now, schools have depended on textbooks to deliver instruction. These are expensive and, for the most part, out-of-date by the time the are published. Our world is ever changing more rapidly then any teacher can keep up with. More then once in my teaching career was the material I was using in class challenged by my students. They had gone to the internet for more current information.
California’s budget is in true crisis. How is the Governor ever going to get it back into check? One way is through the schools. He is calling for them to shift to digital textbooks and instructional materials, which he feels will save much of the $350 million California spends on textbooks and instructional materials!
I recall thinking that I had to be like Sesame Street to ever get my students to pay attention to me – balloons from the ceiling, interactive characters to sing and play with, fast, quick, fun, active. Yet I was using textbooks which are hardly interative and most definitely not fun. Usually droll, dry and written above most of the students.
As educators, we need to change our approach to meet the needs of the 21st century. The old school pedagogy just doesn’t fit today’s students and the gap will only widen unless something is done now. Give each child a computer when they enter school instead of a backpack filled with out-dated text. (It’s healthy for their backs as well.) Teach teachers to be facilators of learning through technology. Embrace online learning, blend with virtual schools and you will see the cost of education drop, students academic scores go up, behavior issues dimminish, and an educational system to meet the demands and expectations of the 21st century.
The choice to homeschool is not an easy one. The responsibilities are gigantic but the benefits can be fantastic.
Reasons for deciding to homeschool vary greatly from religious convictions to dissappointment in the public schools to families, because of parent’s work, having to move around a lot. Homeschooling means there is minimum interruption in learning because lessons can continue regardless of family situations.
Homeschooling is not easy. You are responsible to provide your child with an excellent education. And you must be careful you are not selecting this option to further some personal agenda.
The advantages are huge: it allows you to build strong, positive family relationships, provides a setting for teaching and sharing ideas and develops strong bonds of trust and open lines of communication that are so important with today’s children.
You have more flexibility in the curriculum you use and the school hours you keep. You are not limited to 1 or 2 field trips a year; you have the freedom to take full advantage of all the wonderful places to visit as well as cultural events taking place in your area. You never have to worry about snow days, swine flu, school violence, inappropriate peer pressures, etc.
However, many parents will sometimes have problems developing curriculum especially for their child as they get into upper elementary school and beyond. They may need more support in the teaching. Onine programs can help by offering you the support you need. They can deliver and monitor your child’s curriculum, process the academic portion of your portfolio, and free you up to work on the field trips and socialization aspects of your child’s education. It is a win, win situation.