Learning 'Outside The Box'

Monday, September 06, 2010 04:00 AM

From left to right, Debra, Gavin, and Hailey McConnell submitted photo

Prince George, B.C.- In two days, most school-aged children in our city will load their lunchbags into backpacks and head out the door to return to classes...

Not so, for 11-year-old Gavin McConnell and his 14-year-old sister, Hailey, as they get started on another year of homeschooling with their mom, Debra.

Neither one has ever gone to a traditional, brick-and-mortar school. "When Hailey was three," says Debra, "I went to a seminar with a former teacher/principal who turned to homeschooling his kids because he said they (teachers) only hoped to reach just under 50-percent of students -- and that's just not okay with me."

She says she wants "more" for her children. "Of course, I want the academics, but I also want them to be able to function in this world and be good people and have compassion. I want them to have a different way of looking at the world, not just from the 'box' they're thrown into at school."

"I'm very much an educator of life," she continues. "I want them life educated -- I graduated from high school knowing a lot of useless information and not a lot of the practical things I needed to know like mortgage rates and those types of things."

The 39-year-old Prince George woman not only homeschools her children, but has run two home-based businesses, spent six years as a girl guide leader/executive member and she is currently the president of the Yalenka Ukrainian Dance Society. As well, she is co-founder of PGHome, a non-denominational homeschool support group for those living in and around Prince George.

McConnell admits her homeschooling style has changed over the years -- from a structured school-at-home approach to one that's now less formal -- as she and the kids have found what works best for them.

Both kids are registered with EBus Academy, a distance learning public school based out of Vanderhoof. Hailey is entering Grade 9 and has chosen to be responsible to teachers online this year for her courses. Gavin will be in Grade 6 and, McConnell says, they'll work together to tailor his EBus assignments in ways that spark his interest. A highlight last year was studying the Mayan people, which he began by using his much-loved Lego at home to build a Mayan temple and culminated with a family trip to Mexico to see the ruins for himself.

McConnell says her family's decision to homeschool has meant making some tough choices, like having her husband, Darwin, be the main financial support, but, she says, they would not have it any other way.

She realizes some people may not be able to, or may feel truly unsuited to homeschooling, but she wants people to realize there are options to the standard education model -- she says many believe education is a black-and-white issue, but, for her, it's many shades of grey.

The local mom says people often ask how she can homeschool without being a teacher and the answer, for her, is simple, "They're my kids and I know them, and I've raised them, so what more do I need."

Anyone wanting more information about PGHome can email McConnell at mcconnelldebra@hotmail.com

The EBus Academy website lists enrolment at 1000+ students

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Posted on Monday, September 06, 2010 04:00 AM in News by Michelle Cyr-Whiting

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Comments

Posted by: SummerSoul on September 6 2010 7:27 AM

Homeschooling can be valuable if the parents are educated themselves. If it is just a way of passing on superstitions while insulating children from critical thinking, it is a form of child abuse.

Posted by: Dragonmaster on September 6 2010 8:17 AM

Just say no to....SummerSoul. Your lttle yellow bus is coming.

Posted by: Outwest on September 6 2010 10:08 AM

One new approach would be, put Your whole School Year onto DVD's plus a Highspeed Internet Connection and you never have to see the Classroom again, mind you Parents would not like it, can't both go to Work, have to mind the Children in there Class Room at Home. We teach the same Subjects over and over again, so why can't we record it all to DVD'S ? (read : Vanderhoofs Electronic School Bus)

Posted by: Eagleone on September 6 2010 11:14 AM

Bricks and mortor is nothing more than a baby sitting operation that takes the interest out of learning. What is the point in showing up when you are held up to that kind of standard. That's what I always thought about it and would have gladly excelled at home schooling if given the option.

In this day and age with all the new 'lifestyle' indoctrination at the bricks and mortor schools its a wonder more parents don't chose to homeschool.

I think if you choose to homeschool, then the parents should receive half what the school district would have received for baby sitting their child (financial support for educating your children)... and maybe then the school district would be more responsible to the parents then they are today and would choose to keep rural schools open rather than consolidating so they can waste tax payer dollars on management and other frivolous expenditures that take away from the role of educating.

Posted by: gus on September 6 2010 12:05 PM

"If it is just a way of passing on superstitions while insulating children from critical thinking, it is a form of child abuse."

And who is to say that sending a child to school is not child abuse? After all, schools just pass on the same old information, some of which can fall under the same category of "superstition". I am thinking of history, literature and its interpretation, even various disciplines of science have their interpretations (theories) that change from time to time.

It is all a matter of opinion.

As far as critical thinking skills go, I used to teach those who graduated from HS. Their critical thinking abilities were, on average, very difficult to uncover. If I did not load an exam with questions that they were familiar with and had seen the solutions/answers to before, they would be dead in the water. Canada generally spoon feeds its students.

But that is fine. Our society is set up to teach in 12 years what some other countries teach in 10 years. Even at that, it is learning by repetition and designed for the average.

Those who can do it more quickly as well as those who need more time sink in the system unless there is someone other than their teacher who has the time to spend with them to work with them and their special needs.

I applaud those who can and do spend the time to educate their own children. Not everyone can do that.

I am quite certain that the average of those who are schooled at home do far better in the critical thinking department than the average student who is taught in our public school system.

Posted by: Smooth on September 6 2010 2:42 PM

Question: Who is the most important educator in a child's life?

Answer: The parent

No matter how good some teachers are they can not make up for how far some children are behind because of home life. I am assuming that it is obvious that student's that have a motivated parent will do better than those without. Now, if you are a parent that is willing to take the time and financial loss to home school it can be seen that you are extremely motivated.

Those same students will do extremely well in the school setting with that motivated parent helping them along the way. That is of course unless you are one of those parents with kids so low on social skills that the only place they can succeed is at home.

Posted by: supertech on September 6 2010 8:03 PM

As an ex-high school teacher I would like to add one thing I found unacceptable. I was told by administration what percentage of students in a given class, I was allowed to give a failing grade. They could all pass but they could not all fail - - even if that was all they earned. That was the year I hung up my degree.

Posted by: Smooth on September 6 2010 11:10 PM

"They could all pass but they could not all fail - - even if that was all they earned. That was the year I hung up my degree."

If all kids failing was within the realm of possibility with you at the head of the classroom then it really is for the best that you hung up your degree.

Posted by: gus on September 6 2010 11:10 PM

Ah yes, supertech, evaluating on a curve rather than evaluation based on objective criteria of whether requisite skills were observed.

At least in the post secondary system that was not necessarily the case, although some followed that principle.

Posted by: gus on September 6 2010 11:19 PM

I think to be fair to supertech, he was hypothesizing that if that were the case, he would not be allowed to act on it. He took the extreme situation as an example.

Essentially what I think he is saying is that in a class of 30, he could pass everyone, but that there was some level at which the department head would not accept the failure rate, lets say no more than 5 students. In fact, I suspect the acceptable number would actually be lower than 5 no matter how poorly the students did and no matter whose "fault" it was.

As they say, it is difficult to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Those who can are magical.

Posted by: gus on September 6 2010 11:46 PM

Smooth ...

Read the link to get an idea of what supertech is talking about and I back him up on.

http://www.ivorytowerblues.com/?page_id=4

I went to HS in Ontario in the late 50s and early 60s. In those days the government created an Ontario Scholar designation which meant you needed an average of 80% in six key subjects. In my graduating year of about 4 grade 13 classes of around 30 students each there were 6 who received that award.

About 20 years later there was a study that looked at why there were so many more, percentage wise, who received that award. they found that there was a purposeful inflation in grades by teachers who would begin to increase the marks of those on the borderline because they felt they deserved the awards. The initial awards were presented at a time when the final mark was based totally on a provincial 3 hour examination. No tampering. Everyone graded relatively equally with blind marking systems.

When my son graduated from his HS in the late 1990s, the number of Ontario Scholars has escalated about 10 fold in his graduating year.

from the link:

"I had to write to you after listening to you on The Agenda. As a former Ontario high school teacher I sympathize and apologize for the current state of affairs at the post-secondary level.

After teaching for five years I became disillusioned with the entire education system.

The main problem is a lack of academic standards starting at the elementary level, where it is virtually impossible for students to fail (it’s called “social promotion”). There is now a similar practice at the secondary level.

For instance, before removing marks for late work, high school teachers must go through a lengthy process with the students and their parents; the end result is students do not appreciate the importance of getting their work completed on time. …

My former principal told me that it is “not the job” of high school teachers to prepare students for the post-secondary level, it’s merely to get them through high school no matter what.

In addition, he said attendance at school is more important than focusing on literacy. He continually underfunded our school library (there is no standardized funding for school libraries–it is up to individual principals to decide how much funding their respective school libraries receive).

I once suggested to my principal that we hold a “reality check” session with representatives from the post-secondary level to meet with our students to discuss what the students can expect when they enter the post-secondary level. My principal was not supportive of this suggestion. …

Please continue getting your message across. If there is enough public outrage, the system will improve (simply adding more money to the system is not enough). I look forward to reading your book!”

We had similar discussion with the schools here that received preferred transfer privileges. The schools simply did not understand.

And we wonder why people are functionally illiterate. We have only ourselves to blame.

Posted by: gus on September 7 2010 12:24 AM

Nepean HS in Ottawa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepean_High_School_(Ottawa)

"NHS is known for its strong academic success with roughly 94% of students graduating to higher education (53% being Ontario Scholars)"

Moving from say 4 to 5% when the scholarships were first created to over 53% today.