Here are the reasons Why Online Education Videos Are not the Solution to Education.
“Will I be able to pass my exam by learning it online through YouTube videos? “
This is one of the
most common questions that I am asked.
I am a fan of Khan Academy. It is easily one of the best inventions of the century. It is free and people all around the world have access to it. I would recommend this for both parents and students. There are many great links to lectures and practice assignments. YouTube also has some great educational resources. They make it easy to understand and fun for the students to learn. I always send these videos along with the homework.
To learn, you need to be able to retain this information. You can always revisit the lesson and use that information to help out your short term memory.
Parents and their
students need to be aware of how to use these free online resources. While they
are good for learning and can be used in addition to lectures they are not
going to teach a student all they need to know.
Some students have
trouble focusing in class. They can use the online material on the day of the
exam but they are not learning anything. They can learn related information by
watching these videos but it will not help them in the long run.
In addition to the free videos, parents need to provide other learning opportunities for their students. These learning activities can include worksheets and various types of assessment to check for understanding.
The goals of learning are to take the information and store it in the long term memory. This cannot be done to be with educational videos alone.
Here are the ways the mothers use to help their kids with math; private tutoring is not the most sought after option.
In an independent survey conducted among homeschooling mothers by onlinemathtutornow.com, the respondents revealed how they managed to help their kids with high school math.
According to the 2018 Cambridge International Global Education Census, “The most common subject privately tutored in is maths, with two-thirds of students (66%) taking it, followed by physics (43%).”
Considered as the hardest among all subjects, math usually needs specialization to teach, and most of the mothers who took part in the survey were not equipped with sufficient math skills when their kids started high school math.
Here are the ways the mothers use to help their kids with math; private tutoring is not the most sought after option.
We learn with them!
Surprisingly, out of the 58 respondents, 14 said that they learn high school math along with their kids, and use free and paid online resources when things do not make sense.
“Parents can learn (relearn) along with their students. I have a homeschool friend who got a second Saxon textbook and did math along with her son. He’s now working for NASA after getting a free ride through MIT…” said a respondent.
“I did the high school math with my two kids; they were in the same grade. We learned it together, struggled through assignments together, prayed for God to give us the answer when none of us could figure it out (which He always did) and accomplished it together,” said another.
“You can learn along with them, you are smarter than you think, and we are always telling our kids that learning is fun. Learn together. Or you learn it the day or week before. I love math, but I use math you see, and they have a video for each section, plus there is a teacher’s edition that explains how to do it. PLUS you can google ANYTHING. In addition, you know someone who is a whiz at math. So call a friend or a church member or me, if you get stuck. It really isn’t that bad, ” said a respondent.
“I read the teachers manual and search google for answers and youtube for demonstrations. It is not that hard. Understanding and finding the formula for each equation is a big key,” said a mother.
Online Schools
The next option that homeschool moms make use of is the online schools. Most of the online schools have their curriculums, and students learn and give their tests online. The schools then grade the tests and send the reports to parents. Teachers are assigned on request. The classes take place on video calls.
“I have my high school student at an accredited online school… so they are still “at home” but have a teacher they can reach,” said a respondent.
“My daughter does online for high school. She watched the videos and they graded her assignments and test. I get a copy of the graded tests and assignments when they come back. She get in touch with the teacher/teaching aide for assignments she is not sure,” said another respondent.
Self-study
The third popular option mothers have used is to make their kids learn by themselves.
“One of the main purposes of homeschooling, for us, is to teach the kids to learn on their own. Husband and I both have degrees in math, so teaching it isn’t an issue for us. But when I was a kid, I learned math by reading my textbook. No big deal, really, ” said a respondent.
“High school kids are big enough to read the book. Honestly, I made my kindergartners read the instructions. Parents don’t have to teach the subjects. They don’t even ever have to have taken the subject,” said another respondent.
Hiring a tutor
Surprisingly, hiring a tutor was the least popular option among the respondents, and the reasons seemed obvious. Private tutors are expensive, and most of the time, parents and students have access to many resources online that help them to understand without the help of an expert. So, they hire one only when they are not able to figure out something.
“If I get stuck we go to the library. I know that if it gets way over my head I can always find a tutor. College kids are more easily available to tutor,” said a respondent.
“I hired a math tutor for the upper high school years. She tutored at the community college and took private clients as well,” said a mother who successfully homeschooled her kids.
It is not that hard to homeschool according to the mothers who took part in the survey, and math should not be something that holds you back from taking the leap.
The author Sindu Bharathi is an increasingly popular private online math tutor and blogger on online learning, math, and homeschooling. To receive more updates like this, please subscribe here.
You can know more about learning math online here.
You can learn about the Youtube channels for math motivated high schoolers here. Let me know if you wish to know more about online resources for homeschooling. You can do this here.
Also, if you want to try Online tutoring, you can book a free consultation here.
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