This thread is an offshoot of the Depth vs Acceleration thread (itself an offshoot of the Moshe Kai thread)
http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-older-child/overall-education-acceleration-vs-depth/
I finished reading both Swann books today and skipped my poker session to do the following write up.
The Swann family, from El Paso, TX home schooled their 10 children from the years 1975-2000. All ten children finished their master’s degree at the age of 16.
Both books have Christianity as a central theme. I’ll do my best to ignore this aspect. No Regrets dives into many of the fortuitous and misfortunate events in the Swann family, but spends the bulk of the time discussing life as a home schooled child. My 25 Years has some nuggets of wisdom, but spends very little time on learning and teaching. She outlined some nice principles to adhere to such as sticking to the same times each day, using the same room, and sticking to the plan as best as possible. She emphasized organization and simplicity, two traits that would prove invaluable in educating ten kids at home.
No Regrets was written nearly 24 years ago, but still seems relevant as a discussion topic today. The Swann’s oldest daughter, Alexandra, authored the book just after completing her master’s degree at UC Dominguez Hills at the age of 16. Following the book, she became a history professor at the El Paso Community College. Trying to visualize an 18 year old college professor is a feat unto itself, let alone actually accomplishing such a thing.
While the title of the book suggest an adult that is reflecting upon her early college degrees, the above information illustrates that it’s just not true. She likely still has no regrets (hence the republishing in 2010), but it’s not written from an elder perspective. Having said that, I find her writing to be quite good and I was impressed with it even before I found out she had authored it prior to her 18th birthday. When I was that age, I could barely string together three coherent sentences. Yet, she not only had to write her 80 page master’s thesis, she was able to author a respectable book. I think this is the biggest testament to the methods outlined therein.
In an earlier thread, it was mentioned that all of this was achieved between the hours of 8:30-10:30. This isn’t really true, it’s just mostly true. As more and more family members started school, more of the afternoons were used for extra time and one and one attention (sort of like tutoring). These afternoons were always scheduled for school time, but went unused much of the time. Almost nothing to do with extra-curricular activities is discussed. I’m guessing they just didn’t exist and socializing/play time was done just among the large family.
The family, with all its early education success, was not an EL family. Reading wasn’t taught until precisely 5 years and 4 months old. Each child required roughly 6 weeks to go through a crude yet effective pattern phonics program. Once they were reading, they were officially enrolled in school. The younger children were home to see their older siblings attending school, so they had role models to follow and perhaps had the benefit of dinner discussions where topics from school were brought up. In other words, there may not have been any official EL going on, but I’m sure they had more EL than an ordinary non-EL household.
Today when I think of homeschooling, I think of what parents on this forum likely do, but I also imagine what ordinary home school parents might do. I had a neighbor that was legally blind and the short bus would come pick up her daughter every morning, and then the mother told me she was going to home school. This mother didn’t seem all that intellectual herself. The wife and I both shuttered to think of the educational deprivation that would take place in that house. Judgmental? Yep. It’s a shortcoming I have, and I’m working on it.
well, in 1975, homeschooling was a term that wasn’t even coined yet. While it’s the oldest and most successful method of teaching children in human history, in 1975 people only knew and understood compulsory schooling. Just prior to the first day of school, the mother had reservations about the ungodly environment and decided to try something else. She discovered that overseas military and diplomatic personnel used correspondence schools (distance learning) for their children while out of the USA. She found a school that seemed very regimented and was known for its high quality. This school was Calvert, located in Calvert County, Maryland. As a side note, Maryland schools have just been named #1 in the USA for the fifth straight year. Unlike some of the current online degree mills floating around, Calvert is an actual school with an actual campus with actual students in attendance. As such, it is and was fully accredited in the State of Maryland. Enrolling Alexandra meant sending a modest amount of money for textbooks and supplies (apparently they shipped every supply needed including paper). Calvert allowed the student to move at their own pace, and such, Joyce Swann found that by going 5 times per week, for 10-15 hours per week, year round with only holidays and weekends off, they could trek through a grade level in about 6 months. Since they didn’t want to take time off (a concept worthy of more discussion IMO), they’d just roll right back into the next grade.
After 9 grades (K-8), they had to find a high school that work. Now they had a new problem that EL parents run into all the time - which is being academically advanced for their age. Normal high school was therefore out of the question. They found another correspondence school that specialized in high school dropouts (though they supposedly had a college prep track that the student could opt for). With cajoling from Calvert’s administration, the high school took their child into the course, and she finished it very quickly.
The mother discovered BYU’s distance learning program (which no longer exist) by chance.
By the time Alexandra completed her requirements at BYU, there was no longer any questions about her aptitude for college level work. Prior to officially graduating BYU, she enrolled at Cal State Dominguez Hills in their distance learning program. Because it worked, the other 9 children enrolled in all the same schools at the same age, therefore proving it was the diligence and the method responsible for the success and not some gifted child.
And that’s the summary. Now for the discussion.
when I was younger, I did research some of these correspondence schools for college, but thankfully never really pursued it. Still, I hadn’t thought of this method while pondering any potential homeschooling with a child. I can certainly see the benefit (curriculum all laid out, potential to have a legitimate transcript, instructions on what to do). The downside is that each grade level at Calvert is currently around $1,000 and you don’t get to choose (as far as I know) elements of the curriculum. It’s not like you can say, “I’m not fond of Singapore Math, I would like to use Saxon” or “this textbook seems dull to me, let’s try World Odyssey” etc.
Not all of their programs offer transcripts. If you opt for the transcripts, I believe you’re stuck with what they give you for materials (though you could theoretically supplement). Armed with transcripts, complete with grades and perhaps teacher recommendations, transitioning up the ladder would be far less encumbered than attempting to convince some dean to allow your little kid to test into an advanced class without any credentials (such as how Moshe Kai enrolled at his local CC)
There are several things we can take from the Swann story. The sure nuggets that stay with me are how diligence with a plan produces excellent results, and how the years of 0-5 are potentially less significant academically than from 5-18. I can only imagine what would happen if someone did EL from 0-4 years, and then did an accelerated pace like the Swann’s. I could see someone getting a PhD by age 18 if so desired and with the proper resources. That’s just amazing to think about.
My final thought has to do with the original question of acceleration vs depth. Alexandra certainly got both. I have no doubt.
Thoughts?