Learning From Home as a Third Space

School is not the only place education can occur.

Jan 08, 2021

This year, students and families have been offered two choices for instruction.

Go to school and risk getting infected, plus potentially spreading the virus to others.
Choose virtual, including more screen time and less interaction with peers or adults.

I don’t blame teachers or administration. In many circumstances, they have been constrained by poor decision-making and lack of support at almost every level above.

This “choice” has been common across the country since the fall. In these circumstances, there may be a third option: resist what is offered and learn from home, particularly the skills not often taught in school yet are just as important for the kids.

My 6th and 8th grader have been offered similar options for second semester. We decided to instead learn in this “third space” from home for the next two weeks, engaged in Genius Hour projects. We will reassess mid-month as to whether we can come back safely.

Arriving at the decision was not my kids’ initial preference.

We Are Not Doing “Dad School”

When I explained their choices, both of them initially opted for virtual. They wanted nothing to do with homeschooling. One of them put a blanket over their head, so adamant about not learning from home. “We are not doing ‘Dad School’.” I did not take it too personally; I would also rather be with my friends, even if from a distance, if in their place.

However, once they received their schedule and realized that six hours of Zoom was not desirable, they started to rethink their initial choice. “So, what would we do in ‘Dad School’ anyway?” one asked.

“First of all,” I replied, “it would not be ‘Dad School’. It would be a collaborative effort. You could help me develop the curriculum.”

A litany of concerns followed.

“What if we fall behind everyone else?”
“How do we know if we are learning the same things as our friends?”
“You don’t teach math like they do at school.”

These worries did not seem like a strong rationale for returning to school during a pandemic. Still, I listened, then explained that this would hopefully only be for a short while and they could go back to in person instruction.

My reasoning did not change their minds. What initiated the change in attitude was the taking down of our dying tree.

“How big can the treehouse be?”

Although some parents have been able to keep their children home for a variety of reasons, such as avoiding bullying or systemic racism in their own district, I still realize we have options that other families might not have. Yet a spark for learning or the capacity to teach is not as complicated as we might assume.

For example, a white walnut (also known as a butternut) had been dying for years in our backyard. Every summer, about half the leaves bloom than the year before. It was to the point last summer that you had to look closely to find any green. Fallen twigs on the deck three years ago became broken branches last spring. Finally, we found a contractor who could take it down safely.

The possibility of a treehouse installed in this space was suggested by my neighbor. “Cut the tree down but leave the bottom 8-10 feet or so and then you could build a treehouse on what’s left.” As the crane extracted the dead limbs out of our property and onto the street for breaking down into firewood, the kids started getting excited about the possibilities.

We started with my wife and I entertaining their questions.

“How big can the treehouse be?” (Well, within reason…)
“Can we have electricity?” (Only for a light; no wifi.)
“Will there be a space for the cats?” (Does a cat really want to be up there?)
“Would I be able to sleep in it?” (Naps, yes. Overnight, no.)

When I suggested that this interest could be something we could build a project around for learning the next two weeks, that sealed the deal. We emailed the staff and explained the situation. The teachers were very supportive, sending us topics and standards they would be covering while the kids were learning at home.

Inspire, Wonder, Question

A great educational experience leaves both the teacher and the students more interested in learning than when they began.

For instance, a few days before the project began, I started developing a unit of study around this project.

And I froze. Some of the same feelings that the kids had I was now experiencing. What if they fall behind their peers?

However, I remembered the opportunities afforded by learning from home, such as how to ask questions, or the process for investigating personal interests.

So I put the computer away and instead started rereading The Genius Hour Guidebook by Denise Krebs and Gallit Zvi. Their wise words helped reset my perspective (12).

“Genius Hour is a combination of passion-driven and inquiry-based learning. And it is about human motivation.”

Passion and motivation are not typically part of the curriculum. Maybe they should be. Daniel Pink found in his book Drive that the three most important elements for performing at high levels and with deep satisfaction are autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Researchers Peter Johnston and Gay Ivey found that when people have a sense of agency in their lives, their capacity for developing relationships and empathy goes up.

So I stopped trying to develop the entire unit of study and accepted reality: I did not know enough about what the kids wanted and what was needed to be successful.

So we began with the kids watching inspirational videos suggested in The Genius Hour Guidebook on a tablet. They listened to Kid President tell them today is their day, and watched Steven Johnson explain where good ideas come from.

Once the videos were watched and ideas discussed, we transitioned from inspiration to wonder. They were asked to list things they liked and loved to learn about, things they had questions about, and things they are good at. My son dove into this activity, not a surprise knowing how he responds to strengths-oriented activities. My daughter’s response was…less developed (see: blank).

Knowing her, she had ideas in her head but is more careful about committing them to paper for fear of making mistakes. “She’s not doing the wondering,” my son announced. “It’s fine,” I quickly responded. “She is still thinking about what she wants to say.”

To model for their own personal learning projects, I decided to make the treehouse project collaborative. We are engaged in parallel instruction. I am guiding the development of questions for this design with a KWHLAQ, and they think about how these ideas could apply to their individual study (my son is researching the physics of superheroes; my daughter is interested in crystals).

And that’s where we are at: learning together around a meaningful project. I am modeling critical thinking and question asking. They are pushing me to be more open-minded and creative in my responses to their ideas. Their learning is dependent not on simply what I know about stuff, but what I know about them and how we interact with the world around us.

This learning process began when we decided to learn from home: to not readily accept the only options presented, and to consider third spaces in which what we really need can be achieved.

The New York Times article on why families home school is enlightening, and not only due to the pandemic. It would be wise for every school to understand why their families learn from home and how they might adjust their own programming.
I am currently rereading The Genius Hour Guidebook: Fostering Passion, Wonder, and Inquiry in the Classroom, now in its 2nd edition. The authors Denise Krebs and Gallit Zvi have improved on an already excellent resource, offering many examples and inspiration to guide students in self-directed learning.
The research conducted by Peter Johnston and Gay Ivey makes a compelling case for focusing on engagement first in literacy instruction. See Ivey’s article here to start. John Guthrie has also researched this topic extensively (see here, for example).
To understand where these ideas originated, check out Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Dan Pink’s writing is accessible and thought-provoking.
The KHWLAQ organizational mapping/thinking tool is further explained by its creator, Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano, here.

Read by Example

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