Home-schooling? Ease up, try this
We are in the midst of scary and unsettled times, and from my perspective as a college instructor with more than 20 years of experience, I want to give parents some advice: Forget school.
Seriously. Spending time trying to replicate school at home under these circumstances is not worth it.
Yes, children need to be occupied and stimulated, safe and secure, but there’s nothing inherent in school and schooling that achieves these goals — particularly not in the midst of an unprecedented crisis that is upsetting to all.
Working with first-year college students has convinced me that their “schooling” has been actively damaging to their spirits. They are curious and eager, but their educational experience doesn’t seem to have been oriented around actual learning — certainly not around learning to write. That’s why I was motivated to write “Why They Can’t Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities.”
There’s evidence beyond my anecdotal experience. A 2018 Gallup survey found that more than half of students are either “not engaged” or “actively disengaged” from school. Engagement declines every year of schooling from fifth through 10th grade.
A 2019 Pew survey found that nearly 90% of teens feel at least some pressure to get good grades; 61% feel “a lot” of pressure. This is against a backdrop where 70% of teens see anxiety and depression as a “major problem” among their peers.
Getting rid of homework and standardized tests for the rest of the school year doesn’t sound like a wholly bad thing in this context.
So while children need to be occupied and we should strive to help them learn and grow as the developing humans they are, there is no utility in trying to replicate school — particularly when parents are under strain of their own during this precarious time. It is neither warranted nor will it be effective.
Young people can learn things without getting bogged down in schooling. To that end, here is a writing experience that works for children of just about any age — I first did it in third grade — which teaches them important and lasting principles about effective writing. And it also ends with lunch. It is the first exercise in my book of writing experiences, “The Writer’s Practice.”
Step 1: Ask a child to write instructions for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. (Feel free to substitute a favored sandwich.)
Step 2: Instruct the child to try to make the sandwich strictly according to their own instructions. If they forget to write that you need a knife to spread the peanut butter, use what God gave them. (Their hands.) If they didn’t specify an amount, have fun with it: Really glop it on.
Step 3: Throw that mess away or give it to the dog. (Sorry for the waste, but failure is a great teacher.)
Step 4: Help the child revise the instructions, so each step reflects what is necessary to make a successful sandwich.
Step 5: Make sandwich according to revised instructions.
Step 6: Enjoy sandwich!
When I completed this for Mrs. Goldman in third grade at Greenbriar School, in Northbrook, I became a writer. I realized that writing has a purpose, that we must consider our audience before writing, and that we must take care as we write.
Take care of yourselves and each other. School will still be there on the other side.
For parents who need useful writing activities to occupy their children (sixth grade and up), I’m giving away 40 copies of “The Writer’s Practice.” Email the books@chicagotribune.com with “homestay” in the subject line; include your name and address in the body of the message. Books will be sent on a first-come, first-served basis.