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Just me but I prefer well rounded. All parents choose how to educate their kids. I respect your choices. You seem like an awesome mom.
I wonder if the obsession with gaming college admissions could become as deleterious as forcing standard curricula.
“No, little Oliver. You can’t do that! It’s not unique enough!”
I think a lot of people are faking it. :-P
Here are four things that I have noticed that top universities and high profile employers want after several years of doing my own research:
-Curiosity
-Empathy
-Conviction
-Resourcefulness
I have actually seen less of the generalist vs specialist argument lately. Any reasons why?
I’ve been listening to the podcast Getting In about the college application and admissions process and the experts (from Stanford, Princeton, UVA) talk a lot about service and volunteer work. If you are interested in college admissions even slightly, I think it’s fascinating.
Betsy,
Thanks for the recommendation, I plan to check that out!
I remember reading somewhere about how most professional hockey players were born based on when the kindergarten cut off month was. The older the student was compared to the rest of their grade level, the more likely they were to become specialized in hockey because they always had the advantage of size. That gave them constant positive feedback, more interested coaches, and all kinds of advantages.
Fortunately, I imagine that’s not a problem most of the children in this blog will run into. I just thought it was strange how such an arbitrary looking thing could distort everything so much in the future.
Of course I don’t think college is a worthy long-term goal. It MAY be an intermediate step (at considerable cost: time, money, and opportunity) on the way to a legitimate long-term goal, but let’s put that quibble aside for the time being.
I believe the choice between being “well-rounded” and a “specialist” only applies to school kids who are subject to extreme time/freedom deprivation.
If one avoids the biggest homeschooling mistakes, there is plenty of time and energy to raise extremely well-rounded children.
As far as becoming highly specialized in one area….I think the best approach is to give our kids encouragement, resources, and TIME to cultivate high-quality hobbies. That’s it. Nothing complicated – although many parents struggle mightily to eliminate time wasting.
For example, my son recently got interested in “cubing” – as in solving the Rubik’s cube. Well I took him to a cubing convention/tournament (which he found online)….and I have now, just over the past 2 months, bought him nearly 20 different types of “cubes” to solve.
I don’t know how one can homeschool and not end up with a kid who is highly specialized in something (regardless of the value we put to that skillset). One of my school aged kids spends the majority of her time on math and science topics while the other one is heavily focused on performing arts.
I like the idea of my kids coming out of this opportunity to homeschool as well-rounded specialists. We have a “buffet” of options and sample as much variety as possible. While still allowing them all the time to pursue their passions with full support from us.
I have four kids that range in age between 9 and 15 and I am obsessed by this topic. Three books that have helped me are “Mastery” by Greene, Be So Good that they Can’t Ignore You by Newport and recently “Deep Work” also by Newport. (titles might me off but you can look it up)
Penelope, I’d love to read more from you about how students can stand out and the skills they need. I have one child in particular who is not a traditional student (Aspie like) but we keep her in school because we think she needs the social skills to be around people not of her choosing.
Sophia,
Don’t you think that “forced association” might be a bad thing? We want to raise leaders, not conformists. In the real world no one is forced to be friends with, tolerate, or work with those not of our (or their) choosing.
What about the parents who are angry? The children don’t come up to them and say it’s ok mom, I know you angry but I still love you! Instead I get a reply from telling my child how much I’d love a garden for us, so I can water the veggies, go out and spend an afternoon working in it and reap the benefits of growing my own vegetation. His reply ” I’m not interested in a garden!” So I asked his if he was interested in eating vegetables or understanding that the vegetables that are put in front of him come from that garden? Maybe he want to try famin for a day then discuss whether he is great full for the local garden and the groceries on the table!