Is your child inquisitive? Adventurous? Someone you’d describe as a “self-starter”?
They might be a good fit for an independent, student-led approach to learning.
“A big part of autonomous, independent, or student-led learning is structuring the learning environment to motivate students to learn on their own and support the independent process,” says education expert Saniya Khan. “It means developing a solid group work structure or a process for completing tasks independently.”
Primary and secondary institutions like Delphian School, in rural Oregon, embrace student-led learning.
Delphian is “a school that lets students pursue their interests and accumulate as much knowledge on specific subjects as they can possibly have,” the school says on its website, emphasizing its commitment to independent studies.
Of course, student-lead learning is just one of several valid educational models. Here’s how to decide which approach — and which type of institution — might be right for your child.
Answer the Homeschool Question
One of the most important decisions you’ll need to make early in your child’s educational career is whether to homeschool or enroll them in an in-person school.
Unlike some of the other considerations here, this one depends on your own situation (and needs) as a parent. If you and your spouse both need to work full-time, for example, homeschooling may not make sense for your family. Then again, you may be willing to make big changes to your life and career for your kids’ sake.
Decide Whether a Private or Public School Is Right for Your Family
More than 1 million students in the United States use state-supported school choice programs, according to EdChoice.
That number nearly doubled in five years, says EdChoice’s Alli Aldis.
“Approximately 540,545 students were participating in a private school choice program in 2019. Five years later, participation has crossed the 1 million threshold,” Aldis says.
This is a long way of saying that you don’t have to “settle” for your local public school, even if you’re not sure that a rural, independent school like Delphian is the best choice for your family. And if you’re concerned about cost, know that many private institutions offer generous scholarships based on financial need or academic merit.
Understand Each School’s Approach to Instruction
If you haven’t set foot in a classroom in a while, you may be impressed — even astounded — by what you find. New technologies and methodologies have changed the face of education over the past several decades, for better and for worse.
As a result, there’s no dominant education model any longer. This means that your choice of school may be more important than before. On a related note, it’s more important than ever to understand how your child might respond to the educational models offered by the schools you consider. Delphian School, for instance, centers students in an independent learning approach that looks very different from the top-down, testing-based models common in some public school districts.
Evaluate Athletic and Other Extracurricular Opportunities
Most schools offer athletic and other extracurricular opportunities. To support an appropriate breadth of programming, smaller schools may require student participation to some extent; larger schools often do not. Likewise, larger schools may offer more options for students and higher levels of competition — although independent schools like Delphian hold their own on this question as well.
Engage With the Parent and Alumni Network
Some primary and secondary schools have strong parent and alumni networks. If you want to be closely involved with your child’s instruction (and development) while they’re a student and want them to have access to academic and career opportunities after they graduate, both are important.
Final Thoughts
Young people are remarkable. They are capable of surviving, even thriving, in situations that would overcome even the sturdiest adults. Their inquisitiveness knows no bounds. Their capacity for self-improvement is astounding.
All the same, it’s not right for parents and guardians to “hope for the best” when it comes to a child’s education. We call childhood the “formative years” for a reason: It’s a crucial period in every life, where an apparently small decision can make an impact for decades to come. Your family is right to take those decisions seriously.
