Destination ImagiNation Global Finals calls students, including homeschoolers, from around the world.  The students have a chance to compete on a global scale to solve problems creatively.  From the article: “The Destination ImagiNation program runs annually, and presents students working in teams of up to seven with the opportunity to choose from six mind-bending Team Challenges. Challenges usually feature one prominent task, such as building a load-bearing structure, creating a delivery device, writing a performance piece or exploring history.”  What a great way for these students to shape the future of the world.

Homeschooled in a big rig – yes, it really happened for Kerry Anderson.  Read or listen to the story here.

Reason 3

You will see and enjoy how real learning takes place in your own home.

These two words are tied together – “enjoyment” and “learning.” Does that mean that kids who complain about school because there is nothing to enjoy are not learning? Well, they may be memorizing or “mastering” facts and procedures. That is not the same as real learning.

In the education institution system (remember, my phrase for “school”) opportunities are very few for children to explore and delve deeply into what they truly love. Instead, subjects are chopped up into about six or seven short segments of the day and presented in a boring, uniform fashion. Don’t believe me?

Do you remember when you were in school? Good, now tell me the title of your favorite textbook that you and everyone else in your grade were required to have for that particular class. No, do not tell me your favorite subject in school. Name your favorite textbook. I have asked this question dozens and dozens of times and no one can ever give me a complete answer. That is o.k. I can’t give any titles to textbooks either. I’m convinced that textbooks by themselves do not unlock the door to real learning. They are only one type of tool.

By educating your children at home, they get to explore different topics and subjects when you both feel ready and in a way that they enjoy. Your children, when given the opportunity to explore at their own pace, will also dive deeper and longer into what they desire to learn.

Let me just sum up this point by asking you to consider the following scenario: Pretend you have never seen a marigold. I give you a chapter from a book that I’ve had copied. I give a thirty-minute lecture on what we will be doing in the class regarding marigolds. This chapter has questions at the end of it. I assign you and twenty other acquaintances your age the task of reading that chapter over the next two days from 10:00 a.m. to 10:54 a.m. That’s just what you are supposed to learn at your age, so, no arguments. On the third day, there will be a test over the chapter you’ve read at approximately 10:00 a.m. You pass the test and now your new task is to grow marigolds for others. Aren’t you excited? You’ve “mastered” the subject by reading the chapter and passing the test.

Did you get to read other books about marigolds? Did you get to see marigolds grown from seed? Did you get the opportunity to try to grow marigolds? Were you given choices of other subjects such as oil painting, violin lessons, or house framing instead of reading about growing marigolds? Were you not ready to read about growing marigolds and just needed to wait?

I know this seems like an extreme situation. Yet, everyday in institutional education systems across America, students walk into classrooms expected to master subjects at a certain age they may not be ready for developmentally, nor have developed an interest.

Current proponents of state and national “learning” standards spend much time and money training schools to make parents and students alike feel that “mastering,” “memorizing,” and “learning” are equivalent. Once you’ve completed the assignment and passed the standardized exam, you were finished learning the material. Yet, great American thinkers like Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, and Madison felt that true learning took place over a lifetime.