But are they developing love of learning?

Unfortunately, it’s often quite the contrary. Traditional education takes curious kids who have a natural love of learning, and churns out, 12 years later, teens who can’t stand learning, who see learning as a hated but necessary chore and who are constantly looking to escape and to “relax.”

But what if learning can be a lifelong passion? What if, instead of taking the fun out of learning, learning could become fun again? As a homeschooling parent, you get the opportunity that other parents lose when they send their kids off to school. You get the opportunity to allow your child’s natural curiosity to flourish. You can give your child a curriculum that teaches her independent thinking, that challenges her. You can refuse to accept that “learning” and “fun” are two different things – after all, learning IS fun for young children. Why would we allow them into a system that takes the fun away and turns learning into a boring, repetitive chore?

In a typical classroom, your child is told what to study, when and for how long. In your “classroom,” whether it’s in the kitchen, in your child’s room, in a homeschooling group, or in front of the computer doing an interactive, online homeschooling program such as WiloStar3D, allow your child to be a self-learner, to discover his passion, and to develop a lifelong love of learning.

Photo credit: Courtney Carmody

We thought this was a fascinating discussion on whether homeschooling as a response to bullying is a good idea.

Our key takeaways from the discussion:

1. The first step should be giving the child tools to deal with the bullies and stop the bullying. There are several ways to do that, and what’s common to all of them is that you want the child to stop acting as a victim and to radiate confidence and a “I’m not a good target” attitude.

2. However, sometimes absolutely nothing works and the bullying persists. If this is the case, moving the child to a different school is a valid option and often ends the bullying, proving that it’s not the child who was the culprit but the school or class dynamics.

3. In cases of persistent bullying, since most experts agree that sometimes the only solution is to move the child to a different school, homeschooling should be a valid option, because it’s just like moving the child into another school – it just happens that the school is at home.

We agree with this approach. We think that it’s a mistake to view the act of moving the child into a homeschooling program as “surrendering” to the bullies or as trying to hide from the problem. Just like moving into a different school, the choice to remove the child from a situation where he is bullied and to homeschool him is simply a choice to remove him from a damaging social situation that cannot be fixed and to change his environment. This is a completely legitimate choice.

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 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.

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

One of the problems with traditional schooling is that it shows preference towards reflective, sensing and verbal learners. Homeschooling is much more flexible and so can be better adjusted to all kind of learning styles, and is especially helpful to students who tend to have a hard time with the constraints that traditional schooling places on their behavior and on how they process new information.

Active and Reflective Learners

Active learners retain and understand information best by doing something active with it. Reflective learners prefer to think about it quietly first.

Sitting through lectures without getting to do anything physical but take notes is very difficult for anyone, but is particularly challenging for active learners. Active learners are often labeled as hyperactive by traditional schools, simply because they have a hard tome sitting quietly for hours.

Active learners love 3D online homeschooling because it enables them to do and to create as part of the leanring process, and so they rarely feel bored.

Sensing and Intuitive Learners

Sensing learners like learning facts. They like details and prefer a slower pace of learning. Intuitive learners prefer discovering possibilities and relationships. They like innovation and really dislike repetition. Courses that involve a lot of memorization and routine calculations are very hard on intuitive learners. Just like active learners, intuitive learners are often labeled by traditional educators as “difficult” students.

Honmeschooling in general, and 3D online homeschooling in particular, is perfect for intuitive learners because it focuses on discovery and avoids repetition.

Visual and Verbal Learners

Visual learners remember best what they can see, such as pictures, videos, and diagrams. Verbal learners like words, including written and spoken explanations. In traditional schooling there is a strong emphasis on words and very little visual information, which makes learning tough for visual learners. 3D education is perfect for visual learners because it provides them with the visual stimuli that they need in order to truly understand what they are learning.

The beauty of 3D online homeschooling is that it’s very flexible and can adapt to any learning style. When homeschooling, the pace can be slower or faster, visuals or text can be emphasized, and emphasis can be placed on active creation of material or on learning and memorizing facts – whatever works for the student.

Because it’s a fun, game-like way to learn, 3D education also keeps all students engaged, regardless of their learning style.

However, if your child is an active, visual or intuitive learner (or all three – they often go together), chances are he suffers in a traditional school setting. 3D online homeschooling can be a lifesaver for such a student and transform him from “mediocre” to “bright.”

Photo by nikon_d90man

These wonderful tweets truly capture what homeschooling is all about: leading your child’s education in a way that suits their personality, abilities and interests; and enjoying the process!

Many homeschooling parents report that homeschooling is very enjoyable to them and that they simply don’t see their family ever going back to the crazy mornings, the rigid curriculum and the lack of flexibility and imagination so typical of traditional education.

The three top reasons parents love homeschooling their children:

homeschooling is Flexible

Traditional schooling is tough and rigid. It throws children and their families into a schedule that is far from natural for most of us. The early mornings, the long hours, the endless homework, the late nights finishing up work – this is tough on kids and on parents alike, and is absolutely unnecessary. Kids can learn twice as much while enduring half the pressure they have to endure in a traditional school setting – by learning individually.

Another aspect of homeschooling’s flexibility is that it can be tailored to the specific child’s needs, interests and capabilities. Instead of forcing the child to fit into the curriculum, the curriculum is adjusted to the child.

Homeschooling encourages creativity

Homeschooling, and especially highly creative approaches to learning such as WiloStar3D’s 3D immersive education program, are the complete opposite of dry, boring traditional education because they encourage kids to use their imagination and creativity as part of the learning process. Learning thus becomes active and fun instead of boring and dry. We’ve seen countless tweets by homeschooling parents who say how much they love going outside with their child and immersing them in fun, engaging, educational activities. Homeschooling, when done right, is fun for parents too!

Gentle socialization

Research has proven time after time that socialization is NOT a problem when it comes to homeschooling.  In fact, the notion that the only way to socialize kids is to throw them into a large group of peers with whom they have nothing in common except for their age is ridiculous. People have been socialized for many generations through their families and through organized social activities. For many sensitive, creative types, the gentle socializing that comes with homeschooling is far better than the harsh socialization in a traditional classroom. Parents love seeing their children flourish socially and they love helping them to avoid being hurt and pressured by peers.

Of course, there are many more reasons why parents love homeschooling. These are just the three that we consider as the top ones. We would love to hear from you – what do YOU love about homeschooling?

Even if the decision to homeschool was not forced on you because of special circumstances such as having a special needs child, even if you thought it through and made an educated decision to homeschool, the transition is still not going to be 100% smooth.

While many kids who start homeschooling are relieved to put the traditional school’s intense social pressures behind them, others actually miss the social interaction. It takes time, and careful planning of plenty of social activities with other homeschooling families, to make them see that their social life isn’t over now that they are being homeschooled. If anything, their social life becomes more rich and focused because it’s more selective. They are not forced into the daily company of peers with whom they have very little in common. Instead, they spend quality time with like-minded people who share their interests.

Immersive education programs such as WiloStar3D are helpful in this respect because they enable kids to collaborate with other homeschoolers and to communicate with them as part of their learning, which makes the homeschooling experience a lot more social and the exact opposite of “lonely” or “isolated.”

For the homeschooling parent, there’s often the issue of finding time for herself and for her grownup interests. I’ve heard countless parents say that they would love to homeschool, but they can’t imagine being home with the kids every day for years. Some parents view the public school system as a way to make sure they get some “me” time, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, I believe that you CAN carve out “me” time while homeschooling.

In fact, if the choice is between working full time outside of the home while sending your kids to school, or staying home and homeschooling, your life will become much less stressful if you decide to homeschool. The mad morning rush will be over, and the need to nag your child to keep up with the rigid curriculum will be over too. The typical day for a homeschooling parent is far more relaxed than the typical day for a parent who works outside of the home, and you can get lots of “me” time while the kids are busy doing their work. Even at a young age, they will be doing a lot of the work independently, giving you time for yourself.

Homeschooling takes adjusting, but most families who opt for it never look back.

Photo by whgrad