Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike Smith:
The poet William Butler Yeats once said, “Education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire.” Yeats was weighing in on the age-old question: what is education? Does it consist merely of transmitting specific facts to students? Or is true education something more-a spark that sets the love of learning alight in each individual child?

For many parents, the decision to homeschool is born out of a desire to keep that spark alive. Children are born with a natural curiosity. The homeschool setting is ideal for developing and rewarding that curiosity.

At home, a child might study electricity by reading a junior science book full of pictures, doing some experiments, and taking a field trip to a power plant-whereas in a traditional classroom, children are taught that information by a teacher lecturing in front of a chalkboard. If the homeschooled student is struggling with a particular math concept, his parent has the flexibility to focus on the problem area for several days, until the child begins to understand it.

Sadly, children who do not learn well in the classroom setting may begin to associate education with boredom and confusion. Such children will benefit from coming home to learn.

And until next time, I’m Mike Smith.