Hands up if you know the answer

My kids don’t go to school. They never have done. Probably never will. Their Mum and I decided we wanted them to learn at home with us. When people ask me why, my short answer is that they were learning so well anyway that we really didn’t see the point in school. And yes, it’s legal.

Funnily enough, most people I talk with are pretty impressed, rather than disapproving. I think it’s because they imagine we are ‘dead brainy’ like teachers, when actually we’re just good at finding things out when we need to. Guess what, you probably are too, what with the internet, books, TV, that thing between your ears, and all. But it seems learning is synonymous with school. Nobody looks too closely at it or really questions it.

I’m always coming up with questions.

A while ago I posted some questions in search of answers. So far I didn’t get any, but that doesn’t stop them coming. Like a four year old asking their mother why they keep asking why, I keep on keeping on. This time my questions are about learning. Most, almost inevitably, have a school theme. I make no apology for that. But I’m not asking you to turn against schools, teachers, and all the rest of it. I’m just shining a light into the corners. I’d love to hear any answers or thoughts provoked. Feel free to add a comment.

Here are my questions:

• If one of your parents hadn’t run along behind you holding on to the saddle when you were learning to ride a bike, would you never have been able to do it?
• If the goal was to come up with the best possible means to nurture the natural learning capability of children would you definitely say schools?
• Which is the better measure of taught reading, a child’s ‘reading age’ at age 9, 10, 11, etc., or the number of books, magazines, websites, and the like read for pleasure at age 30, 31, 32…?
• If you set out now, as an adult, to learn absolutely everything you knew about history (or geography, or physics, or sociology) when you left school, how long do you think it would take you?
• In your adult life have you ever found yourself thinking how much you’d love to be able to speak a second language? Did you ever used to think that when you were in a French, Spanish, or German class at school?
• If retailers blamed their customers for not coming to their stores any more, rather than taking steps to learn what they’d done to drive them away, do you think they’d deserve to stay in business? So what exactly is the problem with truancy?