As I have noted before, it is not often that I push something that costs money, but at Frank Franz' suggestion I read
How We Learn, by Benedict Carey.
Here are some of the highlights in Scientific American. The upshot is that the author contends with quantitative backing:
- that studying day after day is not good that we should have a day or two off after studying the first time and that there will be surprisingly more retention when one tests on the third day after studying than on the day you studied
- that studying on multiple days, not in succession increases long term retention
- that brief study breaks to do things totally unrelated such as checking text messages, as long as not done every few minutes help the brain make connections
- that going back to earlier material all year again helps the learning process
- that having students think and not just listen and write makes the long term learning better
I believe home-schooling can be done well, but I still fail to see it as an equivalent alternative to "regular" schooling. A large portion of school is about building relationships, learning to deal with all the different types of people that students will later encounter in the workforce, and about discipline. I am no huge proponent for the early start times of many schools, but I do believe getting up to go to school every morning is good preparation for life, and the necessity to get up and go every day.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as I leanrt when having to write my essays on homeschooling, sending home-schooled kids off to community college classes to prepare for college classes is interesting, because the whole purpose of high school (in theory) is to prepare kids for college.