Online Homeschooling

Archive for the ‘Benefits of Homeschooling’ Category

I recently read a very interesting article in Psychology Today, titled Standardized Testing and the Flight to Homeschooling.

In the article, Dr. Laura Brodie talks about “a test-prep overdose that cries out for a parent-driven intervention” and adds that “kids spend enormous time memorizing facts for multiple choice tests, and less time writing, reading, forming ideas and enjoying hands-on learning.”

I couldn’t agree more. I’ve spent years in traditional schooling, as a student and as a teacher, and there’s nothing that irritates me more than to watch bright, energetic students enter the school system full of life and ideas and eager to create, but fast forward 12 years or so and they are bored, stressed and have not just lost their ability to think and create, but worse – they have lost their will to do so.

I can’t say I was surprised to read that more and more parents are choosing homeschooling to “escape a curriculum geared toward multiple choice tests” that is killing children’s enthusiasm for learning. I’ve seen the enrollment in WiloStar3D explode over the past few years, and many of our parents are telling me that they are choosing homeschooling becuase they disapprove of the current state of traditional education and feel that it does not prepare their children to become thought leaders, but rather it teaches them to be followers.

Just one word of caution – I would encourage anyone who considers homeschooling to make sure that the homeschooling system they are choosing allows and encourages students to create and explore. Not all homeschooling programs are created equal, and some are closer to traditional schooling than you might think.

We’re big believers in creativity. We think that traditional education has gotten on the wrong path. There’s a lot of emphasis on learning facts, on passive listening to lectures, and on verbal learning. Sadly, very little emphasis is placed on encouraging students to become thinkers and leaders – to ask questions and find answers to their questions. Students are not encouraged to create, and in fact creativity and free thinking are often actively discouraged, becuase there’s a curriculum to follow, and that curriculum leaves no place for creation or for imagination.

We are especially sad for children who are creative, visual learners. You know the type – kids who like to think for themselves, who always have lots of questions that the teacher can’t answer. These are our future leaders, free thinkers with strong personalities, but the traditional schooling system typically cannot handle them. These students are often labeled as “problematic students,” as troublemakers who don’t follow the rules, or worse – they are diagnosed as suffering from ADD and are given medication.

We love these creative students. We love their imagination and we know how excruciatingly boring traditional text-based learning is for them. We also know that these students, who are labeled as “difficult” in a traditional school, usually flourish and thrive when they are allowed to create, explore and express themselves using our 3D online homeschooling program.

For these bright, creative students, the ability to learn in a 3D virtual reality environment, to create their own unique avatar and other 3D items, and to work on independent learning projects, is absolutely priceless. Suddenly, they are not “difficult” anymore, but instead they become accomplished students with a very bright future.

Traditional education works beautifully for a very specific type of student. The students who flourish in a traditional school setting are usually verbal learners – they prefer learning through text, and so the passive learning style of sitting through lectures and memorizing textbooks is easy for them.

To do well in a traditional school, you need to be able to sit quietly for several hours each day. While this is challenging for almost all children, some children have an easier time being quiet and passive than others. Those kids do best at school. Their teachers adore them because they listen quietly, absorb the facts being taught and rarely interrupt. They also don’t move and bounce and fidget the way that more active students do.

Other types of students may manage the traditional system and may even learn to do fairly well, but they most likely will not flourish, and they will definitely not enjoy their learning.

The type of student who has the most difficulty in a traditional school is the creative student. You know these kids – they are bright, full of spirit and imagination, and very active. They love to create and build and invent, and they really dislike sitting quietly and listening to lectures, or memorizing facts. These students are often visual learners – they learn best when they can view visuals of the subject material. They are also often very active, so when forced to sit quietly for many hours, they develop habits, which the teachers find annoying such as bouncing around in their chair or fidgeting.

Active, creative, and visual learners can learn to tolerate the traditional school system, but if you want them to thrive and to flourish and to avoid the inevitable label of a “problem” or a “difficult” student, you should look into an alternative schooling system such as 3D homeschooling.

3D online homeschooling is a unique, interactive homeschooling program that fosters creativity, keeps students engaged and utilizes active learning rather than discouraging it. It makes learning fun for any type of student, and is especially suited for creative, active students who find it difficult to accept the rigid limitations of a traditional school setting.

Photo by Rob Shenk