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 because 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.
