I saw this article today on the CNN homepage. It basically supports nearly everything I’ve ever read about learning. No matter what makes sense, though, I’ll never convince school officials that worksheets and textbooks aren’t the best way to learn. As a result, I include a bunch of worksheets in the kids’ portfolios at the end of the year. I used to include samples of their best work but realized that it was largely overlooked because the school official was looking for the worksheets and quizzes.

A few interesting quotes from the article:

Programs centered around constructive, teacher-moderated play are very effective. For instance, one randomized, controlled trial had 4- and 5-year-olds engage in make-believe play with adults and found substantial and durable gains in the ability of children to show self-control and to delay gratification. Countless other studies support the association between dramatic play and self-regulation.

Though I largely agree with this statement, I would argue that spontaneous, un-moderated play-such as that which happens in a homeschool is even more effective. The less adult intervention, the better. It’s difficult NOT to insert our ideas into spontaneous activity in order to “schoolify” it or make it a teachable moment, but I think it’s wise to stay out of it and let the kids tell you about it later if they want to. 


And another quote:

Through play, children learn to take turns, delay gratification, negotiate conflicts, solve problems, share goals, acquire flexibility, and live with disappointment. By allowing children to imagine walking in another person’s shoes, imaginative play also seeds the development of empathy, a key ingredient for intellectual and social-emotional success.

The real “readiness” skills that make for an academically successful kindergartener or college student have as much to do with emotional intelligence as they do with academic preparation. Kindergartners need to know not just sight words and lower case letters, but how to search for meaning. The same is true of 18-year-olds.

Again, I would add that children have a better chance of acquiring the skills mentioned without adult meddling. Specifically, I’m looking at the “live with disappointment” part. I think it’s very difficult for parents to allow their children to experience disappointment and they’ll do anything to buffer it or “fix” it. I’m not suggesting that kids shouldn’t be supervised-especially at a young age-but children will learn whether an adult is there to qualify it as learning or not.

As the article summed up:

“As admissions officers at selective colleges like to say, an entire freshman class could be filled with students with perfect grades and test scores. But academic achievement in college requires readiness skills that transcend mere book learning. It requires the ability to engage actively with people and ideas. In short, it requires a deep connection with the world.”


Wasn’t Charlotte Mason saying this over 100 years ago? Thought so.


So what if I’m validated, good luck trying to convince the Pennsylvania legislature (or the Federal Government which is now proposing universal preschool-I’m guessing not the play-based curriculum) that some conventional education practices aren’t working.