Tell us about your kids. How old are they and how long have you been homeschooling?
God has blessed us with three children so far.  Merikalyn will be six in May, Nolyn is four, and Keagan is about nineteen months old.  Before I even married, I knew I wanted to homeschool my children.  I was homeschooled my last year of highschool, and was able to graduate a year early.  My mom always wanted to homeschool us, but she left the choice up to us.  My brother and I thought homeschooling would be too restrictive.  We didn’t really understand what homeschooling was, and what we envisioned was being cooped up in the house all day and being deprived of our friends. When I made the switch, I was amazed by how awesome it was.  I wish I would have agreed to it sooner.

My husband and I decided we would homeschool our children from the start.  We believe that home education starts from birth, so I guess you could say we’ve been doing it for six years!

Why did you decide to homeschool?
There are many reasons why I decided to homeschool.  My own public school experienced are closely tied in to these reasons.  When I think about sending my children off to school, I think about losing my children. In a time when they should be bonding with their families, they will, instead, be bonding with teachers and peers.  Institutional schools are dealing with so many issues that I don’t want my little ones exposed to.  My parents had no idea of the issues and struggles I dealt with in school because I didn’t know how to talk to them about it.  Sexual harassment and assault, bullying, and drugs are issues that I want to shelter my children from.  One day, they may have to deal with it, but certainly not while they are young and unprepared.

Most of all, we believe in discipling our children, training them up in the way of the LORD, as the bible directs. God has given us, as parents, a command to raise them up, to teach them diligently, and to help them apply the Word of God to their lives.  I just don’t see how that is possible if we don’t spend much time with them.

School aged children are sponges.  They are easily influenced and soak up so much.  Some people act like sheltering and protecting children is wrong, but I feel it’s the best thing we can do for them.  You wouldn’t send a soldier out into war without preparing him for the battle.  Likewise, I’m not going to send my children out into the world without discipling them and arming them with the God’s Word.

Describe a typical day at your house.
We’re pretty easy going.  We usually get the day rolling at about nine in the morning.  We don’t have a strict schedule or routine, but the days usually take a similar shape, although rarely in the same order.

We talk about Scripture throughout the day.  We want our children to understand that the Bible can be applied to every day life and every day situations.  We usually discuss a bible story, followed by a relating project (maybe trying to build an “ark” out of popcicle sticks or creating a rainbow).

The kids love to help around the house, especially in the kitchen. I try to get them involved, especially on the “special” activities that come once a week, like making bread, cookies, or other yummies.  It’s a great time to show them how subjects like math, science, and reading fit into everyday tasks.  Plus, it provides moments of great conversation while we’re taste testing!

We usually read a book or two (or three), and then the kids draw a scene from the book.  This is a really neat thing to do when we read books without pictures, because I get to see what they imagine in those noggins!

My children love playing with our math manipulatives, and enjoy flipping through their workbooks, and you’ll probably find these things littering the floor at some point in the day.  Watch where you step!

Of course, they love to play pretend, and so do I, so sometimes we do projects, read books, or take naps in little hideouts made of blankets and chairs.  When the weather is nice, we get outdoors to do fun activities or just run off some of that energy.

We wind down while playing with puzzles or watching shows like Word World or movies.  (The kids really liked The Bee Movie, and it was a great lead in that the amazing life of a bee, and how important they are!)

Like I said, we’re not very structured; we just play it by ear.  Some days are lazy, some days are full of exhausting activities!

If you could boil your homeschool philosophy down to a couple of points, what would they be?
My main goal in homeschooling is to glorify God and prepare my children to be useful in His Kingdom. Home education is more than math and reading, it’s about discipleship, preparing hearts, and pointing children to God.

Have you ever had to defend your homeschooling style? What did you say?
Unschooling is widely misunderstood, so there are people who seem to attack the approach. There are some pretty opinionated radical unschoolers out there who make it sound like it’s all about letting children do what they want, whenever they want, but that’s not the case.  I’m not against structure.  I think it’s important to have biblical structure and authority in the home, but I don’t feel we should imitate institutional schools in our style.

What’s the most challenging part of homeschooling?
Hmm, that’s a toughy. I think it can be a struggle to keep the right focus.  Sometimes I start comparing my children to other children, and I have to align my focus again.

What do you like most about homeschooling?
In the process of teaching my children, I’ve learned so much as well, and not just in the “book-smarts” arena.  God has used my children to teach me many lessons.  Isn’t it interesting that, when teaching our children, we often find we are teaching ourselves?

Do you have a favorite verse or passage of the Bible that guides your homeschool?
The sixth chapter Deuteronomy is my “go to” chapter for focusing our homeschool, but more specifically the following verses:
4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

5And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

6And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

7And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

8And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

9And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

It’s a reminder that our family’s goal, and how it can take in all of our senses and every area of our lives.

Is there anything else you’d like to say?
While homeschooling our children is a very serious and important task, there’s still room for fun and goofiness!

Thanks, Mandy! And be sure to visit her at her blog, MandyMom.

Tell us the ages of your kids and how long you’ve been homeschooling.

My boys are 2.5, 6.5 and almost 8 — which is killing me. I can’t believe my firstborn is almost 8 years old!! This means I’ve been a mom twice as long as I was a paid professional. Kinda crazy.  And we’ve been unschooling from the beginning. We started reading John Holt after hearing about unschooling when our oldest was a toddler, and it just made sense.

Describe your homeschool.

For us, homeschooling is just our life. Our routine changes with the seasons and with our interests. We’re a very social family, so we have a lot of homeschooling friends we do things with — field trips, parties, themed co-ops.  Whatever sounds fun. My oldest is a blue belt in kung fu and practices two days per week. He and my second son take swim lessons right now, and when that’s finished they’ll take rockclimbing. They are very active boys!  We can get pretty busy, so I’m constantly trying to find a balance between outside activities and time to just be at home.  We have a garden we’re trying to expand this year, and the boys are starting to read, so I want to make sure we have time for those things right now. And time to clean the bathroom!

Tell us why you homeschool this way (philosophy stuff).

Well, my husband is a teacher, so he sees firsthand the limitations of coerced “learning.” So many of the kids he works with don’t know how to think and don’t value learning for its own sake. We were both early readers, and did fine in school, but felt like a lot of our childhood was wasted sitting in a classroom. Unschooling makes sense to us because it values the child’s own ability to think and learn, and gives them the time and freedom to do it at their own pace, and in their own way. It’s been a learning process for us, certainly, and there’s been some doubt along the way, but ultimately we trust that God has led us to teach our children through example, relationship, and real life. And it seems to be working!

Have you ever had to defend your homeschooling style? What did you say?

I think I was more defensive of our parenting style at the beginning than anything else. We’re very close to my parents, and getting through the toddler years without punishment was a stretch for them. But we did get through it, and they see the positive results now. We have AWESOME kids.    Fortunately, my family has always been supportive of our homeschooling, even if they’ve had questions along the way.  As far as anyone else goes, I only explain as much as I think they’re really interested in understanding.  I don’t feel like I owe anyone an explanation of why we do what we do.  But I do enjoy evangelizing to parents of pre-schoolers!  LOL.

What’s the most challenging part of homeschooling?

The hardest part for me is just keeping my priorities straight.  This lifestyle allows so much freedom that it’s easy to get pulled in a million different directions — or even just a couple big distracting ones. And then I realize we’re getting sick because we haven’t had enough downtime. You know, time to get the housework done and then crash on the couch with a good book. I have to make sure I’m really listening to God about what’s important, focusing on what my kids need most from me, and letting the other stuff wait its turn.

What’s the most fun about homeschooling?

What isn’t fun about homeschooling?!  Seriously, I can’t think of anything. (Except maybe cleaning glitter out of the grooves in my dining table. But even that was a reminder of the fun we’d had.) Definitely all the opportunities we have to hang out together, doing cool stuff with our friends and exploring the world together.  It just doesn’t get better than that. Well, it could if my hubby didn’t have to go to school. We wish he could be with us all day, too. Thankfully, he gets lots of time off in the summer!

Do you have a favorite/guiding verse or passage of the Bible that keeps you going?

God’s always leading me to new ones just when I need them! But this one sticks with me and brings me back to Him when I start to wander: “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deut. 31:8

Thanks for answering all these questions. I feel like I know you a whole lot better now. Is there anything else you’d like to say?

It’s really such a blessing to be able to connect with other homeschooling moms online. I love seeing what everyone else is doing — not just to get ideas, but to know that our lives are so full of similar experiences and abundant possibilities!

This is a one-week unit on missions, done in unschooling style. It’s pretty laid back and flexible, but covers a lot of territory.

Day 1 Collection and Reading: Choose a country, go to the library and check out several books about the country and its people. Children’s books are best, but also look for large “coffee table” books in the adult section. Check out or borrow a missionary biography or missions/related fiction that takes place in your country of choice. Don’t forget to look for ethnic music and nonfiction videos. When you get home, enjoy looking through all the books and begin reading the biography to your children (this will probably take longer than a week).

Day 2 Geography Day: Find your country on a map or globe. Talk about bordering countries, climate, natural features (rivers, lakes, mountains, deserts). Ideas: work a puzzle that includes your country, create or find a coloring page that is an outline of your country, make a relief map out of clay. Talk about how long it would take to get to your country. What time is it there? How do time zones work? What kinds of animals and plants would you find there? Older children could have a list of questions to research from the books you got yesterday at the library, then give a little oral report.

Day 3 Cultural Distinctives: Find information about your country’s native clothing, food, language, writing, homes, games, sports, government, celebrations, festivals, religion. All this will probably be in your library books. Ideas: look for a native game to play, try to recreate their clothing, find recipes you’d like to try on Day 5, make a model of a typical home, learn a word or two in their language (Voice of the Martyrs activity books are great for these).

Day 4 The Church: How many Christians live in your country? What is the major religion(s)? When did missionaries first come to this country? What Christian organizations would you find there? What are the greatest needs? Look at the book Operation World or go to their website for easy access to this information. Make prayer cards for the people of your country. Cut out pictures from missions magazines or print them off the Internet. Glue the picture on a 3×5 card and write a prayer request and fact on the back. If you make several, punch a hole in one corner and attach them all with a key chain ring. Use these cards to remind you what to pray. Make a plan to come up with some extra money to send a missions organization that works in your country.

Day 5 Celebration Day: Plan a special meal to show off what you’ve learned. Find recipes to represent your country, dress like them, play ethnic music in the background, make name cards with a fact and prayer request on each one. Display any coloring, drawings, posters, crafts or reports you did this week. Take the library books with the best pictures on the fronts and stand them up around the room and/or on the table. Use mealtime to talk about the most surprising, funny, interesting thing you each learned, and talk about the physical and spiritual needs of the people you studied. And of course, pray for them.

Everyday: In your personal prayer time, ask God to give your child a love for the people they are studying.

This is just the beginning. Who knows what this experience might lead to!

]]> http://christianunschooling.com/2009/03/13/help-your-child-develop-a-heart-for-the-world/feed/ 1 http://christianunschooling.com/2009/02/27/youre-invited-to-a-virtual-field-trip/ http://christianunschooling.com/2009/02/27/youre-invited-to-a-virtual-field-trip/#comments Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:55:34 +0000 Jena http://christianunschooling.com/?p=239 I don’t know about you, but I love seeing pictures and reading about the adventures homeschoolers have. We’re a pretty creative bunch. Just today I read about Stone Age Techie taking her boys to visit Walden Pond. So I’ve decided to host a big Virtual Field trip where all of us can send in our favorite posts about an outing we’ve taken this school year, complete with pictures and video (maybe!). If you have a field trip you’d like to share, send your link to me at yarnsoftheheart@gmail.com by Friday March 6. I’ll have the field trip post with all the links ready to go on March 9. And please spread the word. The more locations the merrier!

If you want to invite your friends to the field trip, I have a school bus graphic you can pick up on my blog.

Hope to see you there!

Being a child’s parent AND teacher puts a lot of pressure on us. We panic when we think our kids have to be doing as much as those kids in traditional schools, so we start to get demanding and that relationship thing falls apart, and for what? Here’s one of my favorite quotes from Albert Einstein:

It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom, without this it goes to wreck and ruin without fail. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty. To the contrary, I believe that it would be possible to rob even a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness if it were possible with the aid of a whip, to force the beast to devour continuously even when not hungry, especially if the food, handed out under such coercion, were to be selected accordingly.

But that doesn’t mean we parents just let our kids go and do whatever. In the quote above, Einstein admits that curiosity needs “stimulation,” and he lists “seeing and searching” as a description of learning. Give your kids lots of opportunity and time to do just that. Keep the goal in mind and guide without them even realizing it.

If you value the model Jesus gives in the New Testament, it’s interesting to note that he was always down on the Pharisees–leaders who continually laid heavy burdens on the people. After all, there are only ten commandments, and even God is not coercive. We may suffer the consequences of poor choices, but he never forces us to obey. One of my favorite verses is “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people,” (Romans 10:21). As we disobey, God is continually holding out his arms to us like the father of the Prodigal Son. One of my guiding principles has been to parent my children like God parents me.

But some of the most popular parenting advisers (especially in the Evangelical Christian world) tell us to insure immediate and cheerful obedience all the time or we are shirking our responsibility as parents. Now that’s a heavy burden. I say choose your few rules and make sure they are really necessary (see “Setting Boundaries for Kids“).

But what about school things like reading, writing and math? A lot of us fear that if we don’t force our kids to do school work, they’ll never make it in life. Here’s my advice: Between the ages of zero and twelve, teach your child to read when he is ready and wants to do it, then do “school” stuff when he shows interest. That gives you a lot of time to relax and watch your child. What is he interested in? What is his learning style? What motivates him? What de-motivates him?

Sure, you can dangle the carrot, like make brownies and talk about fractions as you cut him a piece. Or you can choose games that naturally introduce math because you have to keep score and count money. Or you can check out colorful and interesting books from the library. You can even start a contest with other home schoolers to see how many books each child can read in a month (we did Pizza Hut’s Book It). As far as writing goes, you can make greeting cards as a craft project together, or you can buy her a beautiful journal and matching pen. The computer is great for encouraging writing–open a MySpace, create a blog, or simply leave comments on blogs. I have more about these practical things in the post “My Education Philosophy.”

My point is, notice your child’s interests and build on those. Practically everything in life requires reading, writing, and math, so you just have to encourage those activities in the context of her interests. When you face resistance to “school” things, back off. Ask yourself why she doesn’t like to do that and you might learn a lot about how she learns and what motivates her.

Then, when your child hits 12 or so, take stock of his skills and abilities as they relate to the future. If public or private high school is the plan, what do those schools require? But in the meantime, you and your child can relax and together experience the joy of childhood and the joy of learning.

WRITING IS NOT HARD. Writing is communicating. If you can think, you can write.

So why do home schoolers spend so much money on writing curriculum and give writing assignments starting in first grade and worry that their kids don’t write enough? Probably because the home schooling parent went to traditional school and that’s what they went through, or because that expensive curriculum I just bought says we have to, that’s why.

It’s hard to imagine a world where eight-year-olds are not asked to find the topic sentence of a paragraph or where 12 year-olds are not asked to write book reports. What would become of our youth?

Abraham Lincoln lived in that kind of world. He only spent a few months in a traditional school setting. The rest of his childhood was spent in search of time to read, and no one asked him to write anything. In fact, he didn’t have paper. He would write in the dirt or scratch on wood. As a farmer, he had time to think about his readings as he plowed fields or chopped wood, but he never wrote a summary or an analysis of his readings. He didn’t even take notes.

When he moved away from home, Lincoln became a store clerk and had plenty of time to read behind the counter. When a family moving West had to lighten their load, he bought a barrel full of their belongings. “I found at the bottom of the rubbish a complete edition of Blackstone’s Commentaries. I began to read those famous works, and I had plenty of time; for during the long summer days, when the farmers were busy with their crops, my customers were few and far between. The more I read, the more intensely interested I became. Never in my whole life was my mind so thoroughly absorbed. I read until I devoured them.” source

That’s how Abraham Lincoln became a lawyer. He read, studied what interested him, and passed the bar exam. Without traditional education he became one of the most eloquent, influential communicators in American history. He never took a speech-writing class, yet the Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural Address are among the best speeches ever delivered (and yes, he wrote his own speeches).

But could he write a five paragraph essay? Argh! I’ll have more on that topic in a future post.

Here are some specifics for today’s student:

1. Let them read.
2. Let them think and express opinions about what they read.
3. Respect their opinions and insights so they will feel the freedom to talk honestly with you.
4. Share your own insights and wonder at a writer’s ability to communicate.
5. Don’t kill the fun of writing by pointing out spelling or grammar mistakes all the time.

Here’s what we did.

At the age of six or seven, Peter began reading the Boxcar Children Series over and over again. I had to remind myself that even if these weren’t Dickens, he was at least being exposed to correct spelling, punctuation and grammar. At one point he told me that on the second or third reading he started to notice how the writer was laying out the story, foreshadowing, and creating suspense. This is a good thing to remember: On the first read you are engrossed in the story; on subsequent readings you can be more detached and notice the craft. He even noticed how quotations were organized so that each new speaker had his own line–pretty sophisticated stuff for a young reader to discover on his own. If you think your child isn’t picking up on these things, you could casually point them out, especially if you are reading out loud to him. But keep comments minimally invasive or you’ll kill the joy of reading.

As your child is reading books that interest him, allow him to respond naturally. He may want to talk about it, write about it, act it out, find more information, who knows! Then he will find more books and websites and have more responses. This can go on for years.

Encourage creative writing by suggesting your child write his own book. Or if he likes to create imaginary worlds, give him a little journal to chronicle his adventures. Melissa had dog stories going on for awhile. She liked to type them into the computer and work on them with friends. At one point, she created a newspaper that reported on happenings around the house, including an advice column and comics.

Meg was a late reader, but she loved to listen to books, and we did a lot of that (Little House on the Prairie, Chronicles of Narnia, The Borrowers, etc). Around the age of 10, she started reading on her own, and with very little instruction, her spelling and grammar are up to grade level just from the exposure she gets from her books.

In 8th grade, take stock of your child’s knowledge of grammar, especially if you have not been taking standardized tests all along.* And by the way, I would not recommend taking standardized tests if you don’t have to. They could traumatize some kids and they just aren’t necessary.

How do you assess your kids in the area of mechanics? Check out EnglishChick.com. She has a great grammar basics section and links to other sites, including a free assessment with online lessons. To check your child’s knowledge in the least threatening way, just read over the basics page together, or do the assessment together and see what areas are weak. I also like the Online Writing Lab from Purdue University. They are concise and have a nice list of topics to choose from. EdHelper.com has free worksheets on various grammar topics if your child wants to try those. And my all-time favorite book on English mechanics is Woe is I by Patricia T. O’Connor.

For high school, encourage your child to continue reading great books and allow plenty of opportunity to research whatever interests him. If your child needs some help finding things to read, I highly recommend Invitation to the Classics. It gives short background information on the most respected authors through time, discussion of some of their most important works, along with some questions for thought. Your child could start reading through this book until she comes upon a piece of literature that sounds interesting, then find it at the library. Or you and he could be reading the same thing so you can have the fun of discussing it. This is a great guide to help you find wonderful things to read.

You could give writing assignments, but I wouldn’t unless the child really wants one. Melissa used to do this to me. In junior high she’d ask me to give her a research assignment. She tended to do reports about animals. I’d tell her what types of things she might want to find and she’d come up with her own way to present it, complete with pictures she found on the Internet.

One year during high school, Peter and I met with another home schooled student and tried to do a more formal type of literature class. It was fun to have a time set aside once a week to do that, but it really helped the other girl more than Peter. He found the writing assignments easy because he likes to read and talk about what he reads. And after all, that’s what makes a good writer–someone who can think and communicate logically. I spent most of my time trying to help the other child who’d been very traditionally schooled at home all her life.

The first semester of his senior year, Peter took a composition class at our local community college. We decided to do that so he could prove to himself and colleges that he could write. Unfortunately, it was mostly a waste of money. They had him writing essays (yes, the old five paragraph essay) on different topics. He got A’s on all of them and I hear now his essays are used as examples in the class. Now he’s completing his first quarter at the University of Chicago. He gets A’s on his papers and at least one teacher used his paper as an example for the rest of the class. His friends wonder how he can be such a good writer when he’s been homeschooled–meaning he was never subjected to hours of writing instruction and practice. Maybe that’s the key.

If your child will take the SAT or the ACT, you need to teach them about the five paragraph essay. I will have a thorough discussion of that coming soon. But instead of teaching that topic ad nauseam for years, start about four weeks before the test to allow time to practice a few.

Home School Meets Public School in English Class

Recently Melissa told me about her high school freshman English class (she decided to try public school this year). They are learning how to write summaries. I just roll my eyes and think what a waste of time for those poor kids. Human beings can summarize without instruction, thank you. We do it all the time.

A few weeks ago they started learning how to write the five paragraph essay. If you haven’t noticed by now, I have strong opinions about this traditional way to teach writing, and I can’t wait to get some time to dive into it. But even worse than the fact that high school freshman are learning how to write the five paragraph essay, the teacher told them they wouldn’t be writing a persuasive essay until next year because they just “aren’t mature enough yet.” Excuse me? How many eight-year-olds can present persuasive arguments, especially now, around Christmas time?

For the first time in her life, Melissa is taking notes on a book she’s reading. She has discovered that the purpose of the note cards is to prove they are actually reading the books. Yes, the joys of institutional education. At various points in the unit, each child has to stand in front of the class and talk about the notes they are taking. Melissa did hers yesterday. I asked her how she did. “Fine. I always get full credit for things.”

“How did the other kids do?” I asked.

“Terrible! It’s amazing how no one can talk. The teacher has to pull things out of them and they just mumble.”

But wait, these kids have been in a classroom since they were five years old, becoming magically socialized and learning such wonderful things! And here the child who spent her elementary years “in the wild” can actually talk and write about things she’s learning.

Be assured, the freedom to read and think and follow his interests will make your child a natural, effective communicator.

*If you live in an area where your kids have to prove some sort of “competency” for the “experts,” find out what exactly they are looking for and be sure your kids can do those things at a passing level. Scores on standardized tests in the elementary grades mean nothing to colleges. If, however, you plan to send them to a private high school, it might be a good idea to check ahead of time if those schools will use your elementary scores to determine admission or scholarships. Even if you have to “teach to the tests,” you can probably cover what they need to know in just a few days if the rest of the time has been rich in reading and discovery.

Peter has completed one week of college classes. I’m very interested in his observations and experiences as a teenager who was allowed to follow his interests at his own pace in highschool. How does he adjust to the time demands, the assignments, the relationships, and the life away from family? Did his free-flowing education prepare him for the rigors of a college like the University of Chicago? Here’s #1 in a series of posts.

Yesterday I asked (over Google chat), “What insight do you have as an unschooler at the end of his first week of college?”

Peter: well, we need more time to see, because it’s hard to tell about people this quickly,and also UChicago attracts people with a fairly unschooled attitude anywayme: interesting Peter: but I do think that people are a little less self-reliant than I would expect.
Peter: like, in math, everyone is a little freaked out that the professor moves too quickly. And it is a little annoying, but it’s not that big a deal, you just look at your notes later and figure out the parts he glossed over.
me: so what is it about your experience that makes you less likely to freak out? Peter: well, I’ve had to figure everything out myself, so having to figure out 10% of the math by myself seems pretty easy

When he says math he means Calculus. In essence, Peter learned how to learn. He’s comfortable with ambiguity and knows what to do with it to reach his goals–in this case, to pass Calculus.

How does this happen? A child needs to become fearless at trial and error and exploration. This happens when he’s not held to certain parameters or expectations. When each failure is a learning experience and not a low grade, he’s free to develop his analytical mind and learns how to learn. This reminds me of Thomas Edison. He tried hundreds of materials until he found the one that worked in the electric light bulb. Edison was intensely interested in finding a solution, but if that had been a Physics assignment, he would have run out of time and gotten an F. Now Peter’s in an environment where mistakes will count against him, but he’s had years to prepare and has the tools to succeed.

Unfortunately, most children spend their lives in schools that ignore their interests, penalize failure, and paralyze true learning.

Thank you Cathy, for introducing me to edutopia.org and this video. Here James Paul Gee, a professor at Arizona State University talks about video games and their learning potential, online communities, and the future of education in general. Fascinating stuff.

Dr. Gee has written a book called What Video Games can Teach Us About Literacy and Learning. In an interview at gamezone.com he says this:

“My book covers 36 good learning principles built into good games like System Shock 2, Rise of Nations, Arcanum, or even Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation. But there are many more. Let me just give a few examples. First, humans are terrible at learning when you give them lots and lots of verbal information ahead of time out of any context where it can be applied. Games give verbal information “just in time” when and where it can be used and “on demand” as the player realizes he or she needs it.

Second, good games stay inside, but at the outer edge of the player’s growing competence, feeling challenging, but “doable.” This creates a sense of pleasurable frustration. Third, good games create what’s been called a “cycle of expertise” by giving players well-designed problems on the basis of which they can form good strategies, letting them practice these enough to routinize them, then throwing a new problem at them that forces them to undo their now routinized skills and think again before achieving, through more practice, a new and higher routinized set of skills. Good games repeat this cycle again and again—it’s the process by which experts are produced in any domain.”

For more, read the paper Good Video Games and Good Learning by Dr. Gee, where he outlines sixteen reasons why gaming can be good for you.

I want to find a game that teaches high school biology topics. Any suggestions?

Dr. Gee has written a book called What Video Games can Teach Us About Literacy and Learning. In an interview at gamezone.com

“My book covers 36 good learning principles built into good games like System Shock 2, Rise of Nations, Arcanum, or even Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation. But there are many more. Let me just give a few examples. First, humans are terrible at learning when you give them lots and lots of verbal information ahead of time out of any context where it can be applied. Games give verbal information “just in time” when and where it can be used and “on demand” as the player realizes he or she needs it.

Second, good games stay inside, but at the outer edge of the player’s growing competence, feeling challenging, but “doable.” This creates a sense of pleasurable frustration. Third, good games create what’s been called a “cycle of expertise” by giving players well-designed problems on the basis of which they can form good strategies, letting them practice these enough to routinize them, then throwing a new problem at them that forces them to undo their now routinized skills and think again before achieving, through more practice, a new and higher routinized set of skills. Good games repeat this cycle again and again—it’s the process by which experts are produced in any domain.”

For more, read the paper Good Video Games and Good Learning by Dr. Gee, where he outlines sixteen reasons why gaming can be good for you.

I want to find a game that teaches high school biology topics. Any suggestions?