MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
Greetings Eddies,
When you read the words “open education,” what comes to mind?
In my time as ‘the OpenEd newsletter guy,’ I’ve sent many emails in search of the common threads that might distinguish this term from specific existing words like homeschooling (or vague, mushy phrases like “alternative education”).
This journey has taken me on side quests through everything from microschools and Montessori, to co-ops and classical academies, unschooling and unit studies, forest and farm schools – among a dozen or so other educational pathways.
After all of this, my best answer to the question What is Open Education? likens it to a new educational operating system, built to accommodate the explosion in new “apps” for each student’s specific needs.
Perhaps what makes the term so hard to pin down is that families are discovering infinite combinations of philosophies, curriculums, and resources to teach their own kids.
You can see this diversity on display in our own back-to-learning gallery. If you’re reading this, chances are you are connected to the program in some way. But even the OpenEd program is just one microcosm of a broader worldwide trend, moving towards hybridized, personalized education that doesn’t fit into any of the old boxes.
Here’s to breaking down walls, and inventing new words for what we’re doing.
IN THIS EDITION:
The ten families who won the swag drawing, and six of their photos
How one mom convinced herself she was qualified to educate her child.
Should you skip “skip counting”? A neuroscientist says yes.
Our community’s best advice on how to navigate testing season. PLUS: The full October community, clubs and events calendar
- Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)
P.S. My colleague Ela just created a “wall of love” for families in OpenEd. If your family has been positively impacted by the open education movement, we’d love to add your voice.
BACK TO LEARNING
Educating Outside the Box
Last week we picked 10 winners from around 100 families who submitted photographs to the Back to Learning gallery – a beautiful tapestry of kitchen tables, creek banks, museum floors and back porches, showcasing that learning can happen anywhere.
Top row, left to right: chess at the kitchen table, with the baby still working on breakfast (Jen); sketchbooks on the gallery floor, in front of a painting of two other children (Coleen); a butterfly on Dad’s palm, and one finger deciding whether to touch it (Darragh). Bottom row: a nature journal on the creek bank, with the magnifier in reach (Cori); a toy pressed into service as binoculars, on the back deck (Mikaela); a skateboard, an empty lot and about ten minutes of light left (Crystal).
It’s great to have a window into your own wide world of open education. It’s never too late to send us your pictures!
THE OPENED PODCAST
Am I qualified to homeschool?
In 2019, homeschool advocate Blanca Montelongo was on a treadmill trying to decide whether she was qualified to homeschool her son. Her job at the local school’s registrar office had just been cut, months before he was about to enter kindergarten.
So she opened the notes app on her phone and typed out a list of everything she had already taught him.
Eight years later she still has the list, and she pulls it up for moms who tell her, “I don’t think I can do it.”
In the episode:
What she says to a mom who tells her, “I don’t have the patience”
What a family needs before they start
Why finding a homeschool community is “kind of like dating”
The one test her son ever took, and what she decided afterward
Prefer video or audio? Watch on YouTube or Listen on Spotify.
Recent episodes:
How to Choose a Homeschool Curriculum When There Are 11 Billion of Them with Cassie Olguin
TRY THIS
Should You Skip “skip-counting”?
Skip counting (i.e., counting by 2s, 5s or 10s) is a mainstay in multiplication math curricula. I’ve done it with my older kids. But Claire Honeycutt, a neuroscientist who writes about how children learn, argues it can become a crutch.
How? A child who “skip-counts” to 7 x 6 one multiple of 6 at a time is running a sequence in working memory instead of developing instant recall. In third grade, when multi-digit work arrives, kids start to need that “working memory” for other tasks.
“Time spent learning to skip count is time not spent learning times tables,” Honeycutt notes.
Her fix is quick: introduce skip counting once for the concept, then move quickly to mixed, randomized, retrieval practice until the times tables are automatic. (ClarifiEd)
LATEST IN OPEN EDUCATION
Trends
Satisfaction with America’s K-12 schools just hit 32 percent, the lowest Gallup has measured in 27 years of asking. (Gallup)
Reading scores have mostly been climbing since the pandemic, but one group of students is still falling further behind every single year. (EdSurge)
In one Chinese study, students using AI watched their homework scores rise 18 percent. Exam scores among the same students, however, fell 20 percent. (Joanne Jacobs)
New York City has switched off generative AI for every student from kindergarten through eighth grade for a year. The All-In podcast spent twenty minutes arguing over the evidence for and against. (All-In Podcast)
Meanwhile, the state of New York now has more than triple the number of homeschoolers it had fifteen years ago. (New York Post)
An eighth-grade cohort using a specialized math program managed to pass the AP Calculus BC exam, raising questions about what to do with the school hours they saved. (ClarifiEd)
Dr. Joe O’Tool suggests one straightforward, non-academic task for any father who is nervous about his family’s decision to homeschool. (Christy-Faith)
Tips & Tools
Charlotte Mason capped her youngest students’ lessons at twenty minutes a hundred years ago - modern attention research has recently caught up with her. (Simply Charlotte Mason)
A mother of four neurodivergent kids lists what gets a stuck child moving, and provides eight tactics for boosting executive function. (Raising Lifelong Learners)
Khan Academy built its new career course on the idea that a teenager exploring options does not need a five-year plan. (Khan Academy)
Colleges are now running “Adulting 101” classes for students who arrived without knowing how to cook or budget. (Teach Your Kids)
Lexandria offers full courses in American history, world history, government and economics for free, with automatic grading and a progress dashboard built in.
Are daily handwriting exercises making your child’s writing sloppier? Julie Bogart on where extra copywork starts to backfire. (Brave Writer)
Alicia Hutchinson cut one piece of her eighth-grader’s literature course and got her mornings back. (Learning Well)
THE PULSE
What advice would you give a new family heading into testing season?
We asked this of our Facebook group last week, and here’s what they said:
“The skill isn’t the results, it’s tolerating a test and developing coping skills for situations you may not be prepared for. Make it rewarding: we do a small snack basket with protein, favored treats and a special drink they don’t often get. Be proud they got through the test, make sure they know it right away, then make the smallest deal possible about results if you share them.” (Holly)
“Focus on learning how to take a test as the goal rather than the results. They might use the skill in college or a job evaluation, so we consider it a necessary part of learning.” (Bree)
“It’s just a data point. It doesn’t determine their future, nor does it go on their permanent record. It’s no different than a worksheet they do on a day to day basis.” (Laura)
“Breathe. It doesn’t determine their worth. Be flexible with your schedule and know that everyone has something going on. OpenEd is worth it and it’s only a few days out of 180.” (Danielle)
“Don’t take the results personally. You aren’t curating your learning to what is on the tests like public schools need to do.” (Cheryl)
“Do something fun after.” (Leah)
What would you add? Reply to this email, or answer on Facebook.
COMMUNITY CORNER
October at OpenEd, at a Glance
Montana corn maze. Fall Fun at the Montana Corn Maze, Bozeman, Wednesday 14 October, 12:00 to 2:00 pm Mountain, $7 a ticket. Sign up here; more in-person trips are on the field trip list.
Virtual events. 39 free events in October: engaging lessons focused on language arts, math, science, history, baking, art, and more. Sign in to the OpenEd platform and open the marketplace to sign up.
Around the World Week, 26 to 30 October. Hands-on events on ten countries, a virtual tour of Paris and geography bees. Post what your kids make on the community Padlet for a chance at prizes.
Morning Meetings and Flex Fridays. Every weekday, 9:00 am Mountain for K-2 and 9:30 for grades 2 to 4; every Friday at 10:00 am Mountain, purely for fun, all ages.
The calendar: Print it here; send questions via the contact form.
JUST FOR FUN
Do You Remember the 21st Night of September?
My daughter just came in to remind me today is the official last day of summer. Alas, where did it go?
If you’re feeling end-of-summer melancholy, here’s Buckets the Drummer - the YouTube sensation who bears an uncanny resemblance to our mascot Ed - rocking out to Earth, Wind & Fire’s classic anthem:
One last thing: we believe families should be able to customize their own education - why not your inbox too? Set your email preferences to personalize which emails land in your inbox. Note: If you are enrolled in OpenEd, you will receive program-related emails regardless.
That’s all for this week!
- Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)