She’s regular kid, so neurotypical. Goes to an English speaking kindergarten (so she speaks fluently two languages + we are starting with Spanish) where she does above average according to the teachers with behavior and socializing, although she prefer playing with teachers and older kids. Thanks to the fact that one of us didn’t have to work, we could spend a lot of time with her in the first 3 years and now she can read simple words and sentences (in English—how I hate its irregularities damn!) and do simple arithmetic already. That likely puts her in higher percentiles, but nothing super exceptional nor she shows signs of extremely high intelligence or capabilities. Frankly, she also doesn’t have anyone to inherit these from...
Do you have someone who can spend 10-40 hours a week educating them (depending on the first answer), or the cash to hire someone for that amount of time?
Fortunately for me, salaries for teachers are one of the lowest from the OECD. Depending on the efficiency, me paying a private tutor ~30h/week would be technically feasible and I would still have some money left, but it would be at the edge of what I could spend. I believe this cost could be shared through multiple kids if that was the way to go. I myself have masters in CompSci and my girlfriend masters in pedagogy (not the child development though, although I mean it means little here anyway), so homeschooling done by us is also an option but for me there is definitely much higher opportunity cost (and I wouldn’t enjoy it full time, same as my girlfriend).
1-on-1 instruction for the (child-dependent) sufficient amount of time each week can be applied by anyone with 1SD above average intelligence and a little bit of “how to teach” education. This is the simplest way to ensure someone learns all the key skills (Arithmatic, Algebra, Reading to learn, Writing to communicate, basic facts about history & science)
Do you have any resources or even anecdotal evidence for this? It sounds true to me, but I would say it’s super obvious. Are you referring to e.g. Blooms 2SD?
Once they are old enough to attend High School classes, if you have access to a large (400+ per grade level) school they can get some good specialized classes that would be harder to do with general tutors. Junior college classes are also an option, depending on maturity level.
Sorry, I am not entirely familiar with these as we are not US-based. Based on googling, is what you mean:
large schools having specialized classes: is it that once they are big enough, they can have some special programs like in-depth dive into, say, physics or something? Or do you have some specific classes in mind?
Junior colleges—we don’t really have that where I live, we only have universities, but I think it still applies—she could attend them as they are free to attend for anyone actually (at least lectures).
To be fair though, I am very skeptical I could find many good classes in these, but it’s surely an area I want to explore (although it’s not a priority now, given her age).
I translated what the median U.S.A. teacher has into generic language to come up with the tutor criteria. That is based on anecdotal data from observing n of approx. 50 and hearing first-hand of another n of approx. 100.
Yes, in the “good” school districts in the US that are big enough, there can be classes like Theater, Biotechnology, a full spread of AP/IRB classes, Computer Programming back in the ’90s, a school newspaper / tv station, an actual Film (ie movie creation) class, etc.
Free university lectures are good (and a step up from the widely available YouTube classes, for the in-person Q&A with other students), but in many cases there is physical equipment (science labs, performance venues, machine shops) that wouldn’t be available for free.
For a typical kid with high self-directedness, you probably only need 10 hr/week of professional guidance, plus continuing to have involved parents. The key point (I’m synthesizing this from How Children Learn and How Children Fail, by John Holt) is that the learner needs two things to succeed:
1. Access to a trusted authority, to get their questions answered (eg “how do I even get started with this?” or “Did I do this right?” or “What is this one tricky word?”)
2. Someone observing them while they work, to spot the unknown unknowns and answer the questions the student doesn’t even know they have.
The key point (I’m synthesizing this from How Children Learn and How Children Fail, by John Holt) [...]
It’s very much similar to what @Raj mentioned above, am I right? Seems that Holt advocates for self-driven learning, e.g. from a goodreads review:
Holt believes that children learn best when they learn at their own pace and pursue their own interests—learning should never be forced or uniform, but spontaneous and dynamic. Children don’t need to be “taught”—they simply need to be given opportunites to LEARN
Thanks for the tips though, those two books (How Children Learn | Fail) are definitely going on my reading list.
1. Access to a trusted authority, to get their questions answered (eg “how do I even get started with this?” or “Did I do this right?” or “What is this one tricky word?”)
2. Someone observing them while they work, to spot the unknown unknowns and answer the questions the student doesn’t even know they have.
This is extremely important, because it seems to me that some opponents of current school system go to the opposite extreme and claim that any guidance is harmful. (As if the best way for the child to learn is to wait until they reinvent the entire civilization from scratch.)
Thanks @ericf!
She’s regular kid, so neurotypical. Goes to an English speaking kindergarten (so she speaks fluently two languages + we are starting with Spanish) where she does above average according to the teachers with behavior and socializing, although she prefer playing with teachers and older kids. Thanks to the fact that one of us didn’t have to work, we could spend a lot of time with her in the first 3 years and now she can read simple words and sentences (in English—how I hate its irregularities damn!) and do simple arithmetic already. That likely puts her in higher percentiles, but nothing super exceptional nor she shows signs of extremely high intelligence or capabilities. Frankly, she also doesn’t have anyone to inherit these from...
Fortunately for me, salaries for teachers are one of the lowest from the OECD. Depending on the efficiency, me paying a private tutor ~30h/week would be technically feasible and I would still have some money left, but it would be at the edge of what I could spend. I believe this cost could be shared through multiple kids if that was the way to go. I myself have masters in CompSci and my girlfriend masters in pedagogy (not the child development though, although I mean it means little here anyway), so homeschooling done by us is also an option but for me there is definitely much higher opportunity cost (and I wouldn’t enjoy it full time, same as my girlfriend).
Do you have any resources or even anecdotal evidence for this? It sounds true to me, but I would say it’s super obvious. Are you referring to e.g. Blooms 2SD?
Sorry, I am not entirely familiar with these as we are not US-based. Based on googling, is what you mean:
large schools having specialized classes: is it that once they are big enough, they can have some special programs like in-depth dive into, say, physics or something? Or do you have some specific classes in mind?
Junior colleges—we don’t really have that where I live, we only have universities, but I think it still applies—she could attend them as they are free to attend for anyone actually (at least lectures).
To be fair though, I am very skeptical I could find many good classes in these, but it’s surely an area I want to explore (although it’s not a priority now, given her age).
I translated what the median U.S.A. teacher has into generic language to come up with the tutor criteria. That is based on anecdotal data from observing n of approx. 50 and hearing first-hand of another n of approx. 100.
Yes, in the “good” school districts in the US that are big enough, there can be classes like Theater, Biotechnology, a full spread of AP/IRB classes, Computer Programming back in the ’90s, a school newspaper / tv station, an actual Film (ie movie creation) class, etc.
Free university lectures are good (and a step up from the widely available YouTube classes, for the in-person Q&A with other students), but in many cases there is physical equipment (science labs, performance venues, machine shops) that wouldn’t be available for free.
For a typical kid with high self-directedness, you probably only need 10 hr/week of professional guidance, plus continuing to have involved parents. The key point (I’m synthesizing this from How Children Learn and How Children Fail, by John Holt) is that the learner needs two things to succeed:
1. Access to a trusted authority, to get their questions answered (eg “how do I even get started with this?” or “Did I do this right?” or “What is this one tricky word?”)
2. Someone observing them while they work, to spot the unknown unknowns and answer the questions the student doesn’t even know they have.
Thanks for clarifying my questions.
It’s very much similar to what @Raj mentioned above, am I right? Seems that Holt advocates for self-driven learning, e.g. from a goodreads review:
Thanks for the tips though, those two books (How Children Learn | Fail) are definitely going on my reading list.
This is extremely important, because it seems to me that some opponents of current school system go to the opposite extreme and claim that any guidance is harmful. (As if the best way for the child to learn is to wait until they reinvent the entire civilization from scratch.)