From Ethan – A Lifelong Learner
I was born at a young age and from the moment I entered the world my parents have been involved every step of the way. They raised and educated my three brothers and me at home with a philosophy of building lifelong learners. With four boys who each had a very different learning style, they were able to adapt and creatively develop an approach that produced a good outcome for all of us.
More importantly than just having me memorize and repeat facts, my parents taught me how to learn and how to apply that learning. I believe this is what every home educating parent wishes for their children. If we can’t apply the skills we are learning, then why are we learning them? Education needs real-life application, and in teaching children how to learn, we are equipping them with the skills they need to succeed in college, at the workplace and most importantly, in life. An old Chinese proverb states, “If you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he can eat for a lifetime.” We want students to learn to “learn for a lifetime.”
Here at Math-U-See we are in the business of building lifelong learners, not simply math students. Our complete K-12 math curriculum is skill based, parent engaged, and multi sensory. Steve Demme was a homeschool dad (mine) whose desire was to teach his kids to grow up and become lifelong learners. Math-U-See is a tool to help parents reach that goal.
To that end, we believe that education should be skill-based, applicable, and build on itself. The parent should be involved, and, because of the variety of learning styles of our students, education should be multi-sensory. We are proud to say that our beliefs about education are borne out in our curriculum.
National Summit on Education Reform
I recently attended the National Summit on Education Reform hosted by the Foundation for Excellence in Education and was excited to learn about the ideas for reforming America’s education system. Many of those ideas will seem quite familiar to our Math-U-See family. During one of the sessions, I commented to legislators and education directors at my table that Math-U-See has been training parents to teach this way for the last 21 years.
The main themes discussed during the conference had a strong correlation to the methods of teaching that I recognized from my experience as a homeschool graduate. For example, research indicates that it is important to assess the student’s level and move at his or her pace, focusing on key concepts and mastering those items before advancing. Progress should be monitored with continual assessment, and students benefit from a digital component to curriculum that allows the teacher to be a tutor rather than a lecturer. Not surprisingly, teachers that teach the same child for multiple grades are better equipped to meet the needs of the child.
The difference between the 20th and 21st century education models is in a focus on application and preparation for life. Students learn better when teachers focus on application and make the learning relevant to the students’ lives. The focus should be on mastery rather than on grade levels. Teachers need continual training to ensure these best practices are being implemented, and in order to achieve the best results for the student, parental engagement is necessary.
It is encouraging to see the Math-U-See model and my own personal experience echoed in these proposed reforms in educational methods presented at the Educational Reform Summit. The philosophy of home education and Math-U-See are on the right track, and I believe that the larger world of education can benefit from the innovations that have come from parents getting involved and taking responsibility for their kids’ education from home.
-Ethan Demme
