how will they learn everything they need to know?

Whenever I talk to someone about our educational choices and methods, certain questions come up time after time. I plan to do a series of blog posts discussing the most common of these questions, mainly for those of you that I don't have the pleasure of talking to in person. If you ever do talk to me in person, however, I love discussing these issues, so ask away!

When I tell someone that we are home educating, they are usually enthusiastic at first, "Homeschooling? Good for you! Ella is so smart! She'll be able to whip through the curriculum in no time!" When I go on to explain that we're not really homeschooling, their enthusiasm usually drops a little. When I explain that we are taking a more natural approach to learning, that we will not be following a formal curriculum, and that the kids are going to be directing their own learning, the question that follows is usually something along the lines of, "If you don't tell them what to do, how are they going to learn everything they need to know?"

This questions holds the following assumption: there exists a set of facts which every person should know, and that without which, no person would be successful in life.

I don't blame anyone for making this assumption. The vast majority of us were schooled (either in a school building or at home) to believe that the things they were teaching us were of the utmost importance, and that we would not be successful in life if we didn't know these things. Think back on your own grade-school days. Do you actually remember anything you learned in elementary school? Do you remember any of the "facts" they taught you? Do you remember any of the answers to the reams of multiple-choice tests you took in high school?

I bet what you're thinking right now is, "Sure, I remember some of it! Not everything, of course, but I definitely learned some stuff!" Now think on this: what specifically do you remember? Do you remember anything from the subjects you had no interest in, or is most of what you remember from your favourite subjects? I would hazard a guess that for most of us, the things that stick with us through the years are the things that we enjoyed, the things that interested us, the things that were fun, the things that we found to be useful.

Let me give you an example. I was good at math. I didn't particularly enjoy it, but I got good grades. I did honours math in high school, and I even took "calculus for the biological sciences" in university. (To this day, I have no idea why I chose that course; I was not majoring in the biological sciences, I didn't love math, and the lectures were Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:30am. I think I skipped most of the Friday lectures.) Now, at 31 years old, I wouldn't even be able to define calculus, let alone perform any calculations. I hardly remember anything from high school math. And I bet you can guess why: I didn't really enjoy it, so I learned it well enough to pass the test, and then I forgot it. No big deal, though, because I don't need to use any of what I "learned" in my real life. My husband, Joel, on the other hand, uses math every day in his work. He enjoyed it as a student, he took many math courses in university, and he remembers nearly everything he learned. It actually amazes me that he can recall formulas he learned 15 years ago and still know how to use them. But it makes sense: he enjoyed it, it interested him, and he now uses it on a daily basis.

I believe that there is no universal set of facts that every person needs to know. I firmly believe that what one person needs to know is different than another person's set of necessary facts. Sometimes vastly different. For Joel, higher-level mathematics was on his need-to-know list. For me, not so much.

Given the chance to pursue his or her own interests, I believe that every child will learn what he or she needs to know to become a successful adult. If a person has no interest in math, chances are he will not need to use much of it in his future career choice. Why would he choose a job he hated? So beyond basic calculations and concepts necessary for everyday life, why should he be forced to "learn" a bunch of concepts that he will later forget? Perhaps what he loves to do is write, and his personal journey is leading towards a career in journalism. Wouldn't his time be better spent reading, writing essays, putting together newspapers, producing his own news show, traveling, taking photos, talking to interesting people, perusing newspapers, doing crosswords, or interning at a magazine?

Don't get me wrong, here. I do believe there are some things that every person should learn. Everyone should know how to read and write. (In fact, one of my biggest pet peeves is poor grammar.) Everyone needs to understand basic math to get along in life. Everyone should know how to think critically, research source documents, and come to his or her own conclusions, rather than taking someone else's word for it (ironically, and unfortunately, this is not something that is taught in school). Everyone needs to learn how to learn, because as an adult, the facts you learned in school do not matter as much as the process you went through to learn them.

In conclusion, to answer the question, I am quite confident that my kids will learn everything they need to know. I am also confident that it will look different from what other kids learn, but that's just fine with me.