I saw the headline in Monday’s Harvard Gazette: “Life
Stories Keep Harvard Bibliophile Fixed to the Page.” My first thought was, ‘I
bet he was homeschooled.”
He was.
The article describes the experience of Harvard University junior,
Luke Kelly, who grew up in Mississippi and was homeschooled for most of his
childhood. Much of his time was spent reading and he developed a passion for
books and literature.
Why did I suspect that a bibliophile college student was
homeschooled before even reading the article? Because most homeschoolers love
to read--I mean, really LOVE to read. Many of them develop this affinity because they have the time, space,
and freedom to read when they want, what they want, how they want.
Released from standard schooling constraints that dictate
reading materials and create arbitrary reading levels, homeschoolers learn
quickly that books are vital tools for knowledge and discovery. They are not the props of arduous assignments. They are
vibrant narratives that entertain and edify.
With homeschooling, reading is not a separate subject to be
covered at certain times in certain ways; rather it is an integral and seamless
part of overall learning. Trips to the library are not reserved for 40-minute
blocks once a week with a librarian-led lesson. Homeschoolers often spend hours
at the library, scouting the shelves in search of a good story, seeking
librarian advice when needed, exploring the vastness of its real and digital resources.
And boy do they read! My older daughter has read more books in the past six months than I read in my entire K-12 public schooling stint.
Homeschoolers are also able to learn to read at their own
pace, on their own timetable, following their own interests. With mass schooling, reading is
regimented. Children learn to read in a specific way, following a specific
curriculum, at a specific time. Increasingly, that time is being pushed to remarkably
young ages. Kindergarteners are now expected to do the serious seat-work
previously reserved for older children. Even preschoolers are being
pressured.
Erika Christakis, author of The Importance of Being Little,
writes about the dramatic changes in early childhood education. She explains
that much of this change originates from more standardized, Common Core-based
curriculum and high-stakes testing requirements. Christakis writes:
"Because so few adults can remember the pertinent details of their own preschool or kindergarten years, it can be hard to appreciate just how much the early-education landscape has been transformed over the past two decades...A child who’s supposed to read by the end of kindergarten had better be getting ready in preschool. As a result, expectations that may arguably have been reasonable for 5- and 6-year-olds, such as being able to sit at a desk and complete a task using pencil and paper, are now directed at even younger children, who lack the motor skills and attention span to be successful. Preschool classrooms have become increasingly fraught spaces, with teachers cajoling their charges to finish their ‘work’ before they can go play."
Teachers are beginning to internalize
these standards, rather than question them. As assistant professor of education, Daphna Bassok, and her
colleagues at the University of Virginia discovered:
In 1998, 31% of teachers believed that children should learn to read while in
kindergarten. In 2010, that number was 80%.
Many kids who are not developmentally ready to read on this increasingly pressurized, standardized school timeline are then slapped with a learning disability label
and given an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) to get them caught up to the herd. This can often lead to deep resentment, not only of reading but of
learning in general.
Homeschoolers avoid the standardization and regimentation of
forced schooling, and their learning is often much richer and more meaningful
as a result. It's also more joyful.
So I wasn't surprised that a college bibliophile was homeschooled. I would have been surprised if he wasn't.
Posts
Good article Kerry. May I have your permission to post it on my site?
ReplyDeleteThank you,
Lee Friday
This is so true with our children. I'm currently homeschooling 5 children with 2 preschoolers, and sometimes I just can't keep up with everything I want to do with school. I start to be angry at myself for failing, and then I look at my children do in their free time-- read. I found out last week that my 12yo was reading Romeo and Juliet (the real WS text) and something written by Francis Bacon-- just because he was curious.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, when I was teaching, I found that parents who valued reading also had readers.