Learning Styles

Friday, 19 March 2010 06:34

Individualized Learning is the Path to Academic Progress!

You already know what individualized learning is - you and your child's unique style which allows the learning centers of the brain to take things in and process it in a way that is easily incorporated for future use.

So that is easy, right? But how do you know how to make your child's style match his curriculum?

Another easy one - you don't.

Or at least it doesn't lend itself to being done in a simple and efficient manner. You can adapt ANY curriculum to ANY child, given enough time and resources, but here at The Simple Homeschool - that just isn't going to fly.

What you need to do first is KNOW:

Hopefully, when you have the above three figured out, they'll all be easily integrated, but don't worry if they aren't. TSH is here to help you.

Traditionally speaking - an Individualized Learning Plan, according to most public schools, is a "plan" that has been tailored to your child's needs.

However - in the public school system no child is ever given a TRULY individualized learning plan because they just don't have the resources. The cost of tailoring to the needs of individual children in comparison to forcing pedagogy on the masses would be phenomenally high. Go figure that some of this forced pedagogy actually COSTS MORE than many private schools around the country.

"The average cost for a homeschool student is $465 a year, while some low scoring public schools spend 10 TIMES that amount!"

The Catholic School my son went to for Kindergarten, and it was a beautiful school, was less than $5,000 a year. That should make you FURIOUS! Why are some public schools spending DOUBLE what a private religious school is, yet they are seeing half the progress?

Another topic for another page, I'm afraid.

Back on topic, so the public schools would probably spend double that figure to get children anything CLOSE to an actual plan of education that was tailored to their wants, needs, and desires, let alone outfit them with the supplies necessary to promote an environment conducive for learning.

What exactly IS an environment conducive for learning - well imagine what the hallways at the local high school look like right now and I can tell you - that ain't it! (Pardon my grammar)

What it means to tailor your child's education is this:

Easy. Yes, seriously, it is. When you're finished looking through The Simple Homeschool you will be asking yourself why you never thought of this sooner and who in their right mind would ever allow the government to sabotage their child's future.

There is just one more thing to discuss when it comes to the pros of homeschool, pacing. Pacing is just as important as individualized learning, maybe more so, and you ignore this crucial component at your child's risk. Pacing can be both a PRO (if it is done right) or a con (if it is either under or over used).