Joe:

Joe:
Dr. Bennett, you mention that Alexander the Great had the benefit of his father the king, Philip of Macedon who hired Aristotle to function as a private tutor. Many of the people in our audience, who are somewhat less connected, have chosen to also take a direct hand in their children's education by choosing the path of home education.

What lessons have you learned in your career that might be applicable to the parent who is homeschooling their child?

Fred:
Parents should be aware that their child enjoys learning. I talk in Chapter 4 about the innate desire to learn that is present in everyone. Since fulfillment of innate desires is necessarily pleasurable, learning is enjoyable unless something else interferes. We often forget this basic condition since so much of our own schooling was often tedious and boring. This is inevitable in the inflexible environment of a classroom with twenty-five students, all with different levels of ability, but who are constrained to learn at about the same rate. Homeschooling can allow this real joy in learning to exist and expand

Eating is another innate desire that is pleasurable, but eating some foods may not be enjoyable at all times. President Bush was often quoted as being turned off by broccoli. So children may be turned off by some subjects. For example, for some children, math may be the intellectual equivalent of broccoli. In these broccoli subjects, children will need to go slower and will need even more encouragement over each small step. Nonetheless, fulfilling innate desires, whether by eating or by learning can be and should be extremely enjoyable.

Parents can enhance this basic pleasure
by using good psychology.
There is a fundamental psychological principle that is applicable here. "Whatever is rewarded tends to be repeated." When children succeed, they should be told they have done well which is a reward. They will then strive to repeat that success in the next area. For children being home schooled, recognition of their accomplishments can be rapid and frequent and is one of many advantages that can never be repeated equally in other schools under present conditions.

Joe:
In Chap 11: Educating Brighter Students, you tell the story of Thomas Edison who was a homeschooled boy that was rejected by the system. Many gifted students, despite their gifts, have trouble "fitting in" with the system. What advice would you give homeschooling parents?
(Edison was a dyslexic)

Fred:
The children at both extremes, the very bright and the very slow often have the most difficulty "fitting in" with the system.
This is because the teacher invariably has to proceed at the pace of the average students - she can't go fast enough to keep the bright students occupied or the rest will be left behind. She can't go slow enough to be sure that the weaker students grasp the material or the rest of the class will all be bored. So Edison was not the first nor the last bright student for whom regular schooling was not ideal. Just as homeschooling was correct for him, it is the same for many other children.

Probably the greatest benefit that Edison received from his homeschooling was the influence that his mother had upon him, over and above the academic material she provided. Edison later said of her, "She instilled in me the love and purpose of learning." I would say that to fill a child with the "love and purpose of learning" is the most important benefit of all schooling.

Joe:
Your central thesis is that computers, if used properly can be an important aid to students. You talk of the public school system especially. Do you think computerized education will also be of great value to homeschoolers..

Fred:
Absolutely. Every advantage I mention in the book applies also to homeschoolers.
Moreover, they can take advantage of computers in ways that public schools find hard to accomplish. For example, sometimes teachers in the school system are afraid to let computers perform at top efficiency because they feel their jobs may be threatened if it is shown that computers can teach well. This is never a fear for homeschoolers.

The computer is able to expand greatly the extent of the instruction that a parent (or any teacher can provide.) Typing and foreign languages are two obvious subjects. Computers can teach any child to type after they have learned to read. In foreign languages, technology now allows the student to learn from those who are native to the language, and who have, of course, perfect pronunciation.

When the child does come across a difficult area, the computer with its infinite patience can be extremely effective in keeping the child interested and advancing, and the machine will never feel the exasperation that a human teacher sometimes cannot avoid. Even in the public schools where computers have sometimes been allowed to tutor children, the results are striking. Children learn better, progress faster, and enjoy it more when they are taught by computers.

The difficulty for homeschoolers is to find the best software, and there is a lot of inferior material out there. Fortunately, however, some companies are now creating software that is created especially for the homeschool market. This software has many advantages. It allows the child to receive an individualized
education with many fewer limits

Joe:
Thank you Dr Bennett for taking your time with us today. I would now like to move on to an excerpt from Dr. Bennett's book which focuses on gifted students.

Edison’s experience
in education was extreme.
He was, however, neither the first nor the last talented youth to appear out of step with ordinary procedures and to cause consternation among teachers.

Since bright students can master lessons easily, they should have little difficulty. Learning should be enjoyable for everyone but should be particularly pleasurable for those who are unusually intelligent. Buoyed by their strong curiosity, they should pass through their schooling with few snags. This doesn’t always happen. Many students with a high I.Q. fail to achieve their academic potential. A surprising number of those who drop out of school are above average in intelligence and are capable of doing work necessary to graduate. At times, up to 40 percent of dropouts are enrolled in college-preparation courses. Their elders find it easy to issue platitudes and to say they should remain in school, but tens of thousands of brighter students aren’t listening. They leave school before graduating.

Talented students may face a variety of obstacles.
As happened to Edison, sometimes their good qualities are unappreciated. They can be difficult to teach, and at times instructors find it easier to avoid stimulating their intellectual powers. Moreover, teachers often lack sufficient time to fathom the real strengths and weaknesses and needs of their pupils.

Many smarter students have a characteristic that is negative but can be a positive if cultivated properly.
The are easily bored. They find learning is an intriguing challenge, and they work diligently to succeed. When they reach one goal, they need another or tedium will follow. Often subsequent challenges are delayed because other students in the class need more time to learn. The interest of those who have immediately understood wanes rapidly. This ability of bright pupils to grasp new material quickly can be used positively if sufficient challenges can be provided. Boredom is distasteful, and bright students will avoid it by taking up new undertakings. Keeping these pupils gainfully occupied is difficult, however, when twenty or thirty other students in the same class also need the attention of the teacher.

This propensity to become bored can be a decided negative.
Sometimes their failure to progress rapidly hinders only themselves. At times, however, they turn their talents to disruption, and others also suffer. These bright youths find an antidote for their boredom by baiting and upsetting their teachers.

Slower students use disruptions
to defend their self-worth when they fall behind. They act out to cover their frustration. Bright students use disruptions to dispel their boredom when they can’t go ahead. Just as schools must often bear responsibility for episodes of acting out by slower students, schools must take some blame for bright students who act out.

Unfortunately for schools, the native ability of bright students often helps them devise ingenious ways to disrupt classes and upset teachers. Authorities, faced with unacceptable behavior, tend to blame the pupil. Edison’s schoolmaster felt completely justified in his appraisal of this baffling student.

Not every child with higher intelligence, of course, is a problem for teachers. Nonetheless, many bright students who conform to the system do not meet their potential because they are seldom challenged in ordinary courses. Schools must establish curriculum requirements at a level that most students can reach, but below the capabilities of the truly bright students. Their talents lie unused. They suffer, but the nation also suffers…..

For highly intelligent students,
computers will provide ideal conditions. These pupils will be able to advance at their individual pace starting when they study basic subjects. This capability alone will mean incredible advances over present time schedules. At-risk students in Florida’s dropout prevention program sometimes finish two or three years of work in one year. Imagine what highly intelligent students could accomplish in one year or five years with complete computerized education! Without the constraints found in present classrooms, many bright students could finish their basic class materials in fewer than the twelve years they squander in schools today. They would then spend the remaining years in other studies. …

Since computers will have modems, students will further their education by interacting with their peers throughout the nation and the world. They will have telephonic access to the Internet and to vast stores of information in today’s databases. Teachers in their seminars and workshops will encourage this use of the learning opportunities on the World Wide Web, or its later adaptations.

Even games can be used by brighter students to sharpen skills. New games requiring intellectual acumen will be developed for computers. Students will participate but only if they keep up with their other scholastic activities. Interscholastic competitions based on intellectual endeavors might someday take place and excite other pupils o watch play action through their computers. The interest that was generated by the chess match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spasky in 1992 may have presaged that possibility. Thousands of subscribers to Prodigy, a national computer network, followed a move-by-move account accompanied by a commentary by chess experts. In 1996 and 1997, the chess matches between Gary Kasparov and Deep Blue, an IBM computer, were again carried to thousands of fans, this time through the Internet.

Chess is viewed by critics as a tediously slow game that could never develop a major following in America. In Russia, however, where a widespread knowledge of the game exists, public matches fascinate intellectuals. Perhaps new computer games might be developed that could rival the excitement of watching a football game for at least some students.

Certain students will find exciting challenges in writing computer programs. Competition will add a further stimulus. Students will be presented with a problem, perhaps unsolved until then, and asked to find a programming solution. At other times, they will be presented with software in existence and asked to find an improvement. Criteria for success might be speed or reduced number of instructions. Students will submit their solutions, which will be judged by computers. These competitions could be national or international and will present additional learning opportunities because all solutions will be available to participants. Students will be able, at their leisure, to ponder how others attacked and unraveled the problem.

In computerized education, few limits will impede advance students. Vast reservoirs of knowledge will be readily available. Computers will not only provide access to those storehouses of learning but will also guide and prepare students to use them well.