I have to say, I'm really tired of my kids being compared to other kids their age. They're being held to the standard of public schools. They're expected to keep on track with what other kids their age are doing. The funny thing is the people who question me on it, who question my kids, then turn around and ask me what kids are doing in their grade level anyway, like I somehow know that?
When it comes to my kids, I have no idea what "grade level" they're on. When they truly apply themselves and enjoy it, they're definitely advanced, but when it comes to a subject that bores them, they're probably behind. Then there's the problem with schools and grade level. I'm constantly questioned on what kids do in any grade level, and my first thought is, "In what school?"
This is something a lot of people don't stop to consider. Just because one school teaches multiplication in second grade doesn't mean all of them do. I've heard (though I wouldn't know personally) that around here they teach multiplication in fourth grade. My oldest daughter, the age of a second grader, already knows some basic multiplication. She also understands the concept of money better than most children her age. Why? Because we actually use it. It's a daily life thing and she's learning from the world around her. Isn't that the best way to learn anyway? She's come upon it naturally. In schools, you don't get that. I've known many a school child to be bored in class or totally left behind because they switched schools and their old school doesn't teach at the same pace as their new school, so obviously school isn't this infallible standard that all kids should be measured up to.
It's funny that our society should get stuck on some kind of standard like grade level. It allows parents to be competitive over their children, whose kid stayed back and whose is in some advanced program. It's all decided by their age level, not their interests. Isn't that some kind of false means of measuring intelligence, talent, and skill? Some of the brightest people I know are high school drop-outs or did very poorly in school because they were bored, disinterested, and just didn't apply themselves. Does that mean they're really dumb, or should that be a sign that school just doesn't work?
What about this whole idea that you only can learn certain things based on your age? How does that model a real-world environment? Once children reach adulthood the game changes on them. They don't have to learn anything if they don't want to. Many of the people I know don't read books, don't research information, and in general don't do anything one might consider educational. Adulthood hits and they quit learning. Why? They're not in school anymore.
Maybe it's me, but I just can't get in the minds of people who don't believe in life-long learning. Many of these people consider themselves highly intelligent because they were in advanced classes in school or they got a high GPA in college, but they don't make an effort to educate themselves. Learning is left behind in the classroom, except for the necessary and challenging lessons that life brings.
Somehow I don't think that standard of learning is creating productive and innovative society. Instead of people who are driven to be intelligent and learn something new every day of their life, there are too many people who slack off and do nothing with their time. They watch television, play video games, and aren't terribly involved in their family life.
So, when you look at the difference, your average school child learns a whole bunch of determined facts, while your unschooled child learns from life and is set up for a long life of learning. Which is better? Does it make more sense for my kids to focus on fitting in with some grade level that's not even going to matter when they hit adulthood? Does it make more sense to let my children learn from life itself so they will continue to educate themselves and grow straight through their adult life? Personally, I'd rather see the life-long learning direction than see my kids turn out like so many of the adults I know today.
Most people see this things as mile markers on a highway. There are lots of practical ways kids learn math that make sense and stick with them. Area is multiplication and it can be done with blocks, toys, and other items that make sense to kids. You want to know how many items are in a square. Multiplication is a faster way of figuring it out than counting each one. From there knowing that a 4 x 5 square has 20 squares in it is practical and useful.
ReplyDeleteSorry technically I should have said rectangle, not square.
ReplyDeleteAlso should read these things. Perhaps I should have avoided typing today.
ReplyDeleteNo worries on the the mistakes! We all make them!
ReplyDeleteYou're exactly right. Kids can learn things like multiplication anyway. The first multiplication "problems" we did involved things like soda cans, cans of vegetables, boxes of pasta, and other things. We did that at the grocery store. We also did a few multiplication "problems" with money, though it was only doubling. Division lessons come in the form of cookies, goldfish crackers, cans, and anything else that we might actually need to divide up equally. Fractions are coming along (although slowly, but it's an introduction) with cooking. Complex addition and subtraction has been learned with this wonderful thing our society uses all the time called money. It's started us on decimals too.
That's one thing I find absolutely wonderful about homeschooling, and by the direction we keep falling towards more and more, unschooling. We're finding that the more we look to life and the things we need to do in any average day, the more opportunities we're finding for learning that doesn't involve books, tests, and memorization.