Everyone needs an education.
The goal, however, isn’t just a good education, but an excellent education. Whether an education is just good, or excellent, is entirely dependent upon whether the instruction is appropriate for the student.
Education is a Teach, Modify, and Repeat Process
In mathematics, there is the term iteration. When studying engineering, my classmates and I frequently came across problems that were iterative.
We would begin the problem with a guess for the value of the answer and then solve the problem. When we solved the problem, we ended up with a new answer different than the initial guess. We would take the new answer, substitute it for the initial guess, and work the problem all over again.
We repeated the process until the answers converged. The problem was iterative.
Just like education.
Education is complicated and requires constant guessing (it’s called an assumption if you want to sound professional) and tweaking. It looks like this:
1) The instructor teaches based on an assumption.
2) The Student responds.
3) The teacher studies and interprets the student’s performance.
4) The teacher readjusts her assumption.
5) The process is repeated until the the teacher’s assumption and the student’s behavior are in sync.
Because education is a learning process for the student and the teacher, homeschoolers have the opportunity to do it better. Regardless of money and regardless of education.
Standardized Testing has proven that this is true–whether anyone supports homeschooling or not, the evidence is clear.
The ability to respond quickly to the learning process of education gives homeschooling parents the opportunity to provide their students with an excellent education. Homeschoolers have the opportunity to customize their children’s education.
A customized education used to be the norm when education was based on tutoring; however, as our current model of public education has evolved, customization is less and less available.
Some public schools do give students more opportunity for a customized education such as engineering classes, nursing classes, journalism classes, and such; however, these in no way compare to the opportunities that homeschoolers have to customize education for their students. The problem is that not all schools present students with these options. And even when the schools have these options, not all students are encouraged to take advantage of the specialized classes.
If your student wants to be a writer, a student’s schedule can be adjusted to give that student time to write novels in high school–Eragon.
If a student wants to be a classical musician, her schedule can be adjusted to give that student time to practice at an optimum level.
So if you’ve ever wondered what the secret is to giving your student an excellent education, the answer is customization.
Since every person is different, finding the right education for that person hinges on customization. And homeschoolers have the ability to that successfully.
Furthermore, since we know our students better than anyone else, our assumptions in the iterative process referenced earlier are not just random guesses. They are based on real life experiences with, and feedback from, our students. So not only can we respond immediately to student performance, our initial assumptions are from the beginning customized to our individual students.
My advice: Study your students and be confident in what you know about them. Feel free to modify and adapt your teaching to your student’s needs. Homeschooling gives homeschooling teachers and their students an educational advantage that can’t be beat.
Enter to win some amazing homeschool products that can help you give your children the best education possible!!
Related articles
