Homeschoolers have chosen their route for a variety of reasons, including the fact that their gifted child didn’t fit in a school classroom. But even homeschoolers of children not identified as gifted can have valuable advice for teachers in the classroom.
1. It is possible—and even rewarding—to teach children at a variety of academic levels in the same room.
Homeschoolers who have more than one child are likely to be teaching a wider range of skills in one day than any public school teacher. Of course, they have fewer students, but the techniques they have learned to teach their children can be adapted to the classroom.
Many teachers are resistant to learning about differentiation in the classroom. But homeschoolers embrace differentiation as fundamental to education. For example, a homeschooling family approaches a science experiment like sprouting beans with the attitude that everyone can learn at their own level:
The youngest child would simply enjoy the wonder of watching her small, dry bean split then push out life with the simple addition of water.
The younger elementary child will be expected to keep a calendar of observations: how long did it take the seed to split? What part of the plant came out first? If the seed was upside-down, which direction did the sprout grow?
The advanced elementary child would be expected to learn more about the growth cycle, do more detailed drawings with labels, and perhaps make predictions about how conditions would effect the growing plant.
The middle school-aged child would use the scientific method to design an experiment; for example, growing seeds in different amounts of sunshine or with different amounts of water. He would do diagrams, chart growth, and finally, write a paper based on his findings.
Each child does the same basic experiment, but expectations of performance are based on the skills, knowledge, and abilities going in, not the fact that the children happen to attend school in the same location.
2. The teacher doesn’t have to be an expert in something to teach it.
Homeschoolers are famous for learning from their children. No homeschooler starts on the journey thinking that he or she knows everything the children will need to learn.
Teachers, on the other hand, are supposed to master curriculum then teach it. The arrival of a gifted learner can upset the classroom balance if he knows more than the other kids, has mastered all the available curriculum, and may even surpass the teacher’s knowledge in a subject.
Homeschooling parents see themselves as guides and see each child’s natural inquisitiveness as a challenge. When one of their children excels in an area, they don’t ask her to slow down, to wait for other kids, or to do the same things she has mastered over and over.
Again, a homeschooler is likely to be guide to many fewer children than a classroom teacher, but a teacher who sees herself as a guide rather than the repository of knowledge will find dealing with a gifted child easier and also more fulfilling.
3. All children are asynchronous learners.
Teachers learn a falsehood that is reinforced over and over by our school system, our curriculum, and our standards. This falsehood is that children learn at the same rate, and that there is a natural order to how things must be learned.
Every homeschooler learns the truth sooner or later, and it’s his children who teach him.
All children are asynchronous. They all learn at different rates and are ready to learn some information at different times. There is nothing “wrong” with a gifted third-grader who has no interested in memorizing math facts but is fascinated with algebraic equations.
A classroom that is set up with the expectation that children will fall easily in step with the theory the teacher believes in will fail for gifted learners. Gifted learners stick out because they are more different than other children, not because the other children are not different, as well.
A classroom set up to nurture gifted learners will emphasize learning and de-emphasize evenly spaced progression through curriculum. A teacher who wants to nurture his gifted learners will respond to their passions by encouraging rather than trying to stifle them.
4. The digital age is here and should be embraced.
Teachers of today are still teaching in the classroom of yesterday. Teachers depend on textbooks and passive students rather than dynamic learning and proactive students.
Homeschoolers are finding less and less to love in textbooks, and more and more to love online. New digital technology offers instruction tailored to every type of learner. Much of it is free.
Instead of dismissing kids’ web surfing as a waste of time, teachers can encourage their gifted learners to deepen their classroom experience through online exploration. While learners with remedial needs get more classroom instruction, the gifted learners could watch National Geographic programs about their current social studies topic, learn new math skills for free on Khan Academy, and attain useful skills like typing from the BBC.
These are just a few ideas for how educators can learn from the homeschool approach. If you have other ideas, please leave comments below!
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