Roam Schooling
Last week I posted about this book I was reading, about one woman's foray into homeschooling.
I really loved the comments that you all left, talking about the pros and cons of trying such a system. I still don't know if I could personally homeschool my kids, but I am intrigued by the idea.
Anyway, I had just gotten into the book when I wrote my first post, but the other night, not yet ready to sleep, I told the husband that I was going to read "a little bit" and proceeded to polish it off just a little after midnight. Oops. I got sucked in on the background of homeschooling and those who are very extreme in their practice, to the point where the kids are not socialized at all. It made for very interesting reading and I highly recommend the book.
My very favorite part, though, came at the very end of the book, where the author talks about "roam schooling" as opposed to home schooling. Roam schooling takes on the idea that schooling does not have to be one or the other. You could do time in a regular school building, take classes online, learn at home, visit the community college, the library, the community center. You teach yourself by watching videos on YouTube (heck, hubby taught himself how to lay tile that way) and interact with others on social networking sites. Because of our advancing technology, there's no telling exactly how schools will look in the future. We know that our current system isn't the best, so maybe it's only a matter of time before the system changes into a workable system that actually gets people learning. Isn't that the goal?
I came across this infographic the other day, and while it's a little long, I find it very interesting.
I don't know if I would jump all the way to free education because as we all know, it wouldn't actually be free, but I like the idea of putting our people first and making sure we are creating a nation of educated people. The fact that so many people come out of college with huge debt is really sad, and the fact that so many never use their degree makes it even worse. College could be cheaper if they eliminated all of the junk classes forced into each program to make you more well-rounded. When you go to a trade school, you learn a trade. When you go to college, you learn how to be round. It doesn't make sense.
That's why I like this idea of roam schooling: you get to focus on what you want to learn, and then, you'd be more likely to learn it. If you've ever been in a school lately, or have chatted with teachers, you may hear them talking about teaching to the different learning styles- visual, kinesthetic, etc. This means that different people learn best in different ways- seeing something written out, by physically doing something, and so on. Roam schooling would cover all that, and it seems like, in a better way.
I wonder if this could be the way we start moving. Maybe we can finally make our education system more workable.
That's why I like this idea of roam schooling: you get to focus on what you want to learn, and then, you'd be more likely to learn it. If you've ever been in a school lately, or have chatted with teachers, you may hear them talking about teaching to the different learning styles- visual, kinesthetic, etc. This means that different people learn best in different ways- seeing something written out, by physically doing something, and so on. Roam schooling would cover all that, and it seems like, in a better way.
I wonder if this could be the way we start moving. Maybe we can finally make our education system more workable.
Would you roam school?
