“The little girl really wanted to play with her mother more.
But her mother didn’t have the time to play with her.
Her mother was always saying: I don’t have time.
I don’t have time.
I don’t have the time to play with you.
One day, the little girl wanted to give her mother a practical gift
She wanted to give her some time.
She said: hey mama, I’m giving you time!
But her mother didn’t even notice the gift her little girl was giving her
and everything stayed the same as before.“Translated from the French play, Little Red Riding Hood, by Joel Pommerat
Nearly six years ago, I posted a simple question in about 30-40 parenting groups on Facebook:
Overwhelmingly, families responded the biggest problem they faced was not having enough time.
Since then, I’ve asked hundreds of parents what’s the biggest reason they choose not to homeschool.
Again, parents reply, they don’t have enough time.
It may be a surprise, and some of you may raise an eyebrow, when I suggest that getting back time, and getting back quality time as a family can be the biggest gift of homeschooling, and modular learning in particular.
Let’s first talk about family lifestyle…and then we’ll dig into academics.
The world of work is changing. More people are becoming entrepreneurs, in charge of their own day. More people have remote, flexible work. More people are choosing to travel the world as digital nomads. I’ve met these types of people with remote, flexible work. I’ve met ones who homeschool and I’ve met ones who don’t.
When I speak to families in this demographic. who have kids in school, they’re rushed, they’re overwhelmed. They need to get up when the alarm rings to take their kids to school, rush off to work, rush to pick them up, make dinner, go to bed, plan activities, squeeze in a vacation…and whoops! How did you grow up and go off to college?!
The modular learners I speak to wake up when they’ve gotten a good night’s sleep, ease into the day, clock in at their remote jobs or companies, rotate between hanging with their kids and working remotely while their children study independently, play with friends or attend activities that align with their parents’ work schedules. Sometimes they’ll attend a homeschool co-op that meets 1-2 days a week. Sometimes they’ll head over to a friend’s house.
As I said, this doesn’t look the same for every homeschooler or every family in school. I’m primarily talking about families with remote, flexible work, or with a parent who stays home and is primarily responsible for caring for kids. It’s certainly more difficult for families with two full-time jobs outside the home homechooling or not. But those families are less likely to homeschool too. And even then, the homeschoolers have more time.
Counterintuitive, but nevertheless, true.
Why is this? Why do homeschoolers seem to have more time?
Unity of time (day, week, year, family unit)
In modular learning, there’s no separation between the school day and the home day, between the school year and summer break. Families have the opportunity to settle into a rhythm that works for them without switching between two worlds. They have the opportunity to develop processes that make them more efficient as a family. They have the opportunity to develop these together when they are most fresh. They have the opportunity to spend their best, most alert and energetic time together, not the tired after-school go to bed cranky energy with each other. They have the time to get to know each other and become one, to move and breathe in harmony.
Flexibility of childcare and location
Homeschoolers are not beholden to a school schedule or school location. They can design the flexible, affordable childcare that works perfectly for their family, or move away from the “good schools” closer to in-laws, grandparents, or other extended family to help with the load. In many cases, homeschool communities becomes villages where parents share responsibility for caring for kids.
No homework/dinner/bed rush
In modular learning, there’s no crammed in homework after school, followed by cooking dinner and rushing kids off to bed…the school is the homework and it often gets done well at the beginning of the day. In modular learning, people eat when they’re hungry. They eat food that’s nutritious and energizes them all day long. Parents don’t have to slap on peanut butter and jelly and stuff it in tin foil at the break of day. They can prepared food when children are hungry and eat together. Kids even know how to cook.
Practical Life Skills
Kids learn practical life skills, including but not limited to cooking for themselves. They learn to help around the house, help with siblings - and that saves time too.
Autonomy
Modern-day secular homeschoolers, especially unschoolers, put a high value on autonomy. They’re willing to be patient and let kids be bored in order to reach that golden goose : self-directed learning, the gift that keeps giving and giving parents back their time. Most importantly, perhaps, they learn to be independent learners. Without people telling them what to do all day, they learn to take initiative to tell themselves to do stuff. This doesn’t happen immediately, and it’s not so present with toddlers or even kindergarteners, it happens as kids grow, and when it does…What a time saver!
So modular learning, this unity, ultimately saves time for families.
And now academics
Why do homeschoolers need to spend less time on academics?
1-1 mastery learning
It’s no secret that 1-1 tutoring is wildly more efficient than classroom instruction, especially when a classroom teacher is responsible for teaching 30 to 50+ students. According to Benjamin Bloom’s famous two sigma problem, 1-1 Mastery Learning (learning 1-1 with a teacher, caregiver or parent at your own pace) is 90% more effective than any group instruction. What this means is that no matter who the teacher is, kids learn much faster when they can learn at their own pace and they have individualized instruction. We can take this a step further. In homeschooling, parents can choose curriculum that works ideally for their child. And in recent years, with the growth of the homeschooling movement, there’s been an explosion of resources designed by parents and teachers for their own unique children, that they’ve then sold to other parents who have kids like theirs. This means that any child can use a curriculum that employs a way of learning that works for them if there parents are willing to dig a little (or use Modulo’s curriculum planner.
And this is why, Mastery Hours (the best kept non-secret of modern homeschoolers) a method homeschoolers employ to soar above their peers with only 1-2 hours of instruction a day. And in this way, their time isn’t wasted. They focus and get the attention they need to thrive during concentrated periods of focus that are of appropriate length for their developmental stage, no longer, no shorter.
Self-directed learning
Then, they got large periods of time where they can direct their own learning. This capacity makes them highly independent and within no time, they are completely capable of entertaining themselves.
Continuous, not periodic evaluation
Evaluation and adjustment is continuous, not periodic. Mastery happens when kids have mastered the material, not before, or after a test to judge their ability. There’s no cramming for tests, because learning is self-paced.
So the next time you think you don’t have enough time to homeschool, consider this…
Perhaps it’s taking ownership of your child’s education, and taking the time to give them ownership over the lives, that will give you back the time you so treasure and so deserve.
And the best part?
You get more time as a family, more quality time to be together and enjoy each other and raise your own children to thrive in this world.
From Le Petit Chaperon Rouge, by Joel Pommerat
“Elle aurait bien aimé jouer davantage avec sa mère.
Mais le temps manquait à sa mère pour pouvoir jouer
avec elle.
Sa mère disait toujours : le temps me manque.
Il me manque du temps.
Je n’ai pas le temps de jouer avec toi.
La petite fille un jour avait voulu faire un cadeau utile
à sa maman
lui offrir du temps
elle lui avait dit : tiens je te donne du temps maman
mais sa mère ne s’était même pas rendu compte du
cadeau que lui faisait sa petite fille et tout était resté
comme avant.”
how would you foster more independent studying / play for a young child? my 3 year old daughter will sit for a lesson or play with me but struggles to consistently be able to study or entertain herself alone.