Slow Schooling Chapter One
In which I describe the difference between conventional education and what I call slow schooling. Enjoy this first chapter of Slow Schooling for free.
(Of note: chapters begin and end with early blog posts)
"The School Thing"
Thursday, July 17, 2008 07:16
...we have homeschooled almost 18 years now... and I started out with the seat work at the table bit... but like you, I wanted more for my kiddos...I have all boys, I wanted each of them to be godly men , wonderful husbands, great fathers... so we tossed 80% of the books most years... We read lots of books..separate...as a family...we talked about them... and we did math...maybe 2-3 times a week. The boys were able to explore their interests peppered with real life instruction. For a month they worked with a neighbor learning how to shingle a roof, followed by volunteering at Habitat and learning other skills. One saved his money from raising rabbits and went to the state surplus auction where he bid on a hundred computers, swapped out parts and built 35 good ones which he sold on ebay and made a dandy profit. He spent HOURS absorbed in that which he could not have done had I forced the book work. They took mission trips to Honduras, Maine & NY after Ground Zero to feed volunteers. They hiked mountains and worked in soup kitchens, learned how to run a tiller and plant a garden. They bought old cars and learned how to swap out transmissions and what a universal joint was.
So, despite my schooling fears, I woke each morning and committed our learning to the Lord for each child. And at night my hubby and I would pray together for us to be able to guide them where HE wanted them to go.
The results...The oldest is 27 and engaged to a very wonderful woman..he owns a landscape business that specializes in solar lighting and is working on finishing up his degree at NCSU in Sociology and Public Service where he hopes to work for a non-profit. He is the author of the book, "The Faces Have Names", a pictorial on the homeless in America.
#2 son is married to a lovely woman (he is the computer kiddo mentioned above). He works in IT from home where he and his wife hope to have a house full of children. He and his wife have a music ministry where they sing together at different events.
#3 son volunteered at Ground Zero when he was 15 and just returned from Iraq with a purple Heart, bronze Star with Valor & a Medal of Commendation for his service. He will settle in as a police officer and continue volunteering with at-risk kids as soon as his wounds are patched up (we seriously need a good chiropractor!!!)
#4 son will play basketball at Liberty University as soon as he graduates and wants to coach at a Christian school or college.
It works. It works by committing it to the Lord…
(comment left on my blog)
There is a tremendous amount of research and studies now that prove that homeschooling results in children who are successful, happy, and meeting their unique potentials while they are in turn blessing their communities. See Dr. Rudner’s “The Scholastic Achievement and Demographic Characteristics of Home School Students in 1998”, for example of even the success of early homeschoolers. (1) However, success of an endeavor does not depend upon whatever “study” comes about on whatever parameters it has set; it depends on how the individual him or herself defines success. For one, it will be a high GPA. For another, it will be a profitable business. And so on.
Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, an early—and still relevant— masterpiece of the English language, defines schooling as “to teach with superiority; to tutor; to chide and admonish; to reprove.” The sense here is that unlike the Latin heritage of the word (ironically, “a place where leisure is enjoyed”), schooling involves engaging assembled students under the direct instruction of one or more teachers for the purpose of improvement or learning. But, learning what, we may ask.
The very nature of the school system is to train people to follow the clock, to move obediently from one place to another (in straight lines), and to more or less accept whatever is taught as primary importance. Teachers feed the students the subject at hand, chosen by remote and invisible politicians and lobbyists, and students consume it. With dozens of people in one classroom, it is impossible to fully individualize instruction without bucking the system of a chosen curriculum for everyone to attain mastery in. Teachers that do so are not commended except, perhaps, by their students. John Taylor Gatto is a well known example of this (2). The goal of a systemized school is to produce consumers and employees. Students are expected and rewarded to accept the teaching and do the homework, and are rewarded with vague letter grades and scholarships where they, presumably, will go on to do more of the same, eventually ending up driven as consumers using debt, obligation, and societal pressure to continue keeping up with the crowd (aka “the Jones’s”).
Slow schooling, however, differs from institutionalized schooling. This slow schooling type of education concerns itself with the forming of habits that will enable the student to not only have the tools to become producers (not only consumers), but will have the drive and imagination to do so. Slow schooling concerns itself not only with what books to read, but with how to interact with a book, to think while reading, to place it in context within the world at large and to attempt to understand the author’s worldview and intention. Entrepreneurs and producers are educated via slow schooling, not merely moved em masse through a broken system.
Slow schooling is about true education. It respects the child’s innate interests and talents, and treats him as a unique individual. It meets the child where he or she is. If he has already fully grasped the concept about electrical circuits while hanging around his uncle, does he really need to read the chapter in the science book on it? If she is doing math in her head correctly while baking to double for the crowd of eaters, does she need that page of fractions to do? Well, maybe. But, maybe not.
Much of our confidence in our children’s education lies in their completed worksheets, their report cards, their graduation rates, and perhaps we’ve gotten a bit idolatrous of high SAT scores. Is this right? Shouldn’t at least some of our confidence lie in their love for God, their ability to care for animals, or to love one another? Yes, we want them to know how to read and write (and we’ll discuss why later on), but don’t we also want our children to know how to tie knots, cook rice, and do laundry? How about knowing the names of plants and birds outside of their windows, having some rich poetry in memory, and a good directional sense (for when the GPS breaks).
I’ve long wanted to speak with Daniel’s mother. Yes, THAT Daniel from the book in the Bible, the one who as a teen was ripped from his family and country, deported to a foreign land, served under a pagan king and yet still remained steadfast and faithful in service and prayer, even in the face of death. Or to have tea with Susanna Wesley, whose children grew to write magnificent hymns and have such passion for the lost. Or to walk with the mother of Moses; how DID he come to remember his people, to turn aside in wonder at the burning bush and to hear the Lord’s voice? If my children ever live in such circumstances, will they have such passion and conviction? Or am I simply satisfied with their test scores? What is the point of learning anything if it is not to grow into wise and loving people?
And yet I still feel the pressure as a homeschooling mama to go through a curriculum, give and mark off assignments, and follow a book. I want to know the “right way” to homeschool, the guaranteed approach that will produce very intelligent and respectable adults on fire for Jesus! However, when I ask the Lord what that perfect approach might be, He simply says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).
Our confidence cannot be in the means of gaining academic knowledge even as our nation begins burdening our students more with the expectation they will compete with other nations’ childrens’ test scores (yes, those children, who spend the majority of their waking hours in memorization drills to pass exams—those children who even at the age of ten are committing suicide due to the pressure) (3). Instead, our confidence must be in the One who knows every hair on our child’s head. We cannot put our trust in “the best school” or in “the best reviewed curriculum” but in God, who put these children in our lives not only for us to bring up, but to bring US up. And clearly, God cares about those relationships we have with them. He also knows and allows every interruption, illness, and hardship into our lives, and those, too, are very educational, even when happiness and worldly success seem elusive.
June Gloom or June Glee?
Jun. 14, 2006
11:22 AM
...I want them to know and love God, to know how to live with and care for others, and to know how to learn. I want them to know how to work, and to work well in their chores and other life skills. I want them to play hard, using their bodies, imaginations and creativity. I want them to read well, and to be hungry to find out more about whatever it is they want to learn about. I want them to jump up and down wagging their tongues in glee when I open up a new box of books for them to peruse.....like they do already. The degree I got for teaching woefully equiped me for this sort of juggling, and if anything, hindered me from seeing the big picture of what family life could be like. So I have been learning all kinds of things (like how to keep a home, how to cook, how to not lose my mind...) along with my children, and I'm growing and learning along with them....
(1) 20 Mar 2020 https://hslda.org/content/docs/study/rudner1999/Rudner0.asp
(2) 20 Mar 2020 https://www.johntaylorgatto.com/
(3) 20 Mar 2020 https://www.dw.com/en/why-are-hong-kong-students-committing-suicide/a-38414311