If you are a long-term reader of my blog, you will know that over the years we have mainly used history unit studies and a maths curriculum. We chose this way because a history unit study can cover almost every subject under the sun. Now, I have to admit that for the most part, these unit studies were curated by yours truly. However, in addition to all the work we did together, each child chose a project to focus their afternoons on. This project was their self-directed learning. Including both self-directed learning and mum-directed learning utilised the advantages of both and reduced the disadvantages of only using one of these methods. In this post, I will be writing about the disadvantages we have found of self-directed learning as a homeschooler.
Learn More! Click on this link if you’d like to see how we used history unit studies to teach our children science.
General Disadvantages of Self-Directed Learning
As I was preparing this post, I knew I did not want to simply invent the wheel. There are many posts out there which include the disadvantages of self-directed learning. Most are either regarding the adult working world, are referring to a classroom situation or for adults studying at university. The disadvantages of self-directed learning in these conditions are listed below. These I think do apply to homeschooling as well. However, the ones I shall be focusing on are the specific disadvantages I have found as a homeschooler.
- Difficulty accessing resources
- Selecting appropriate materials
- Maintaining motivation
- Potential for learners to focus on interests over essential skills
- Lack of structure and guidance
- Procrastination
- Lack of feedback and assessment
- Difficulty in self-evaluation
- Isolation and lack of social skills
- Difficulty in adapting to new technologies
- Time management issues
- Misinformation and Unreliable sources
- Cognitive fatigue
- Not knowing what to learn
- Lack of time
- Self-motivation and interest
- Too much choice
- Learning only what they are interested in
- Selecting teaching source
- Accessing teacher/guide
- Time wastage
- No external motivators to ensure motivation and engagement
Read More! I have written about the advantages of using self-directed learning in your homeschool
Disadvantages of Self-Directed Learning for Homeschoolers
A Lack of a Clear Start and End
I mean, I guess there is a clear start, but it is difficult to ensure all projects are finished at the same time. The reason for this is that there are not incremental learning goals allotted to a particular time frame that can be neatly ticked off once accomplished. Self-directed project work is messy. Yes, messy as in disorganised and cluttered, but that is not what I am referring to here. I mean messy as in disordered and chaotic. Without bullet point learning targets, it is difficult to know if your student has done enough. And whose job is it to decide that anyway?
We somewhat address this by having an end of unit presentation. We’ve always billed this as an opportunity for the children to show off! Knowing that each of them needed something to present gave each student the momentum to at least attempt to work towards an end product or learning goal…otherwise, what would they have to show off?
In general, we tended to give each student some time to explore the topic they had chosen before encouraging them to come up with a goal or end product. However, we’ve had varying success with this. For example, one of our children was a few weeks into a project when she completely lost interest and wanted to change her focus entirely. This particular child was very self-motivated. In the end, she changed her focus and worked hard to catch up. Her presentation was wonderful, spurred on, I am sure, by her enthusiasm for the topic.
Balancing Expense with Expectation and Ability
In my experience, project work costs more than textbook work.
This is a tough one. We have five children and one salary. And we live in one of the most expensive areas in the UK. We never wanted our financial situation to ever limit the children’s education. However, since the pandemic and its corresponding hike in all prices, we have to be much more careful these days. I am so close to needing to go out to work. We have been here before and I am sure we will be here again…somehow we always manage to keep me at home.
When our children were younger, we utilised charity shops for almost everything. If I saw anything which I thought might come in handy educationally speaking I bought it. So, much of what we have used over the years came from shopping I did perhaps a decade earlier. That said, it has been getting progressively harder. For example, Becca, who is doing lots of level two qualifications which are basically made up of one project after another, has learnt to consider cost when she plans for a project. Of course, Gary and I would love to give her the world, but the children all understand that is not always possible.
If there is something a child has their heart set on pursuing, we might suggest looking for ways to earn money to contribute towards its cost. Having older siblings who work and hate the fact they still have to do chores is handy as they are quite happy to pay their younger sisters to their chores for them. Both Abs and Becs earn twenty pounds a month from Lillie!
KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)
Stupid is not a word we allowed in our home. However, the above acronym is one my tutor at uni drilled into us all. Whatever we chose (be it essay topic, dissertation topic, presentation topic) we needed to keep things as simple as possible. That was the key to success.
Of course, human nature being what it is means that the more normal thing for us to do is to complicate things. In the main, we do this because we hugely overestimate our ability regarding the chosen topic, or in this case the chosen project. My children have always thought big and it is always down to me to encourage them to be a bit more realistic. Which is a shame in a way because I’ve always wanted them to dream big.
Experience has taught me not to go bull-at-a-gate with the discouragement. It is far more beneficial to the child if you are able to talk through their project ideas with them so that they can perhaps see for themselves that they have over-reached in some area. Although, be warned, it may be that they have thought about a way they can feasibly do something you had previously thought impossible!
Wanting to ‘Help’ the Child (or is this just me?)
One of my favourite projects to oversee was Charlotte’s Medieval fashions projects (see photo ☝️ ). In it, Charlotte researched the fashions of the peasant woman and the medieval lady. As a beginner seamstress, her goal was to sew the researched costumes for her dolls. I thought it might be an over-reach but Charlotte is very persuasive when she wants to be (which is always!), so I let her follow her instincts.
Half way through she got a bit stuck. Instead of letting her problem solve her own way out of the fix which may have resulted in an inferior costume, I swooped in to help. Even in the moment I knew I was doing her a disservice but the presentation was creeping up on us. I am not proud of this and have done my darnedest to not repeat it but I definitely think it might be a disadvantage for some people.
As parents, we tend to be far more invested in our children’s education than a regular teacher would be. We want them to succeed, sometimes to their detriment. I remember writing my post about this project at the time, reflecting on my interference and promising myself and my children that I would never do it again. I guess we all learn from projects 😊
In Conclusion
If you look at all the many disadvantages I have listed above at the top of the place, you’ll avoid ever starting your children on the whole self-directed learning journey, and that would be a shame. I wholeheartedly believe self-directed learning has been one of the biggest skill building things we did for our children.
I hope this post has been helpful to you. My next post will cover choosing the project with each child. If you have any specific questions you’d like me to address in future posts, please do email me or leave a message below.
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