ONE TO ONE LIMITATIONS IN LEARNING By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist Many home-schooled students have become successful adults. Certainly, they have become readers, writers, and communicators. They have excelled in many professional endeavors. Some have come from an upper economic status with highly educated family members and high socio-economic levels. Some have been provided with incredible experiences that augment their childhood education. The upper class has had the opportunity to educate their children in this unique way while the average family had to rely on government, public education. Now some families have turned to teaching their children at home. They may hire teachers to teach in their home or joined private home school groups with a few children. Some have purchased online education programs where the child sits in front of a computer for most of the day, getting an education. When compared with large public-school environments these increasingly individual learning environments have pros and cons. The student’s individual learning style can be catered to better in a one-to-one or small group of ten or less students. The smaller number of children usually means the teacher can give more individual attention to their learning. This greater individual learning time usually means the teacher can tailor make a unique learning environment and give greater attention to each one. This can be positive for the student and limiting as well. This one-on one teaching can at times have a negative impact. In a larger group of students, a group discussion will give many different viewpoints from others. These other students can stimulate other ways to view the issue. A group discussion is a wonderful method of encouraging individual thinking and skill development. Furthermore, this unique method of presenting material usually increases with the size of the group. The more people presenting slows down the completion of the topic but offers the group more methods of approaching and developing their project. A one-on-one teaching experience with a student allows the teacher to learn about the student’s learning style and overall knowledge base. However, it does not provide the student with the opportunity to learn from other students’ styles and methods of communicating their ideas. Students in school not only learn the subject matter presented in class but also must learn to follow directions and learn to interact appropriately with other students and teachers. In other words, a student learns what it means to be appropriate in an academic setting with numerous others. Besides academic subjects most discussion-oriented schools help students learn correct social skills in a well administrated school program. Home schooling often has a lack of time management opportunities as children can take their time on activities and tests. This means that they do not learn to work under stress. Parents need to be conscious of this drawback of one-to-one learning and figure out ways to make time management more prevalent. There are advantages to home schooling children in individual families, small groups, online, in homeschooling programs with several students. There are also some disadvantages that should be considered. With the changes and reported problems in public schools it is understandable that parents are looking for alternatives to public school for their children. If parents are going to home school their own children or hire an educator to instruct their children, they should consider the limitations of home schooling as well as its advantages. Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers and blogs, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN and the latest book entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can see many of Dr. Maglio’s articles at www.drmaglioblogspot.com.

IN A HEALTHY FAMILY EVERYONE SHOULD PARTICIPATE By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist Yes, many family psychology experts have accepted that everyone should do “their own thing” during their free time. This usually means the children are in many activities such as dance, sports teams, drama, bowling, weightlifting or modeling. While the parents have their own activities, clubs and regular activities to satisfy their own interests. Many families have outside helpers to complete almost all the necessary maintenance projects that keep up their homestead. Someone or a company maintains the outside and others do the inside of the home. There are organized activities to go to every day and night for each family member to be entertained in their so-called “free time.” Everyone has their own scheduled events to keep them interested, active and fill their time. Yet, there are things that must be done to keep up the homestead. Instead of using the many businesses to complete household tasks, parents could pass on their knowledge and skills to their children rather than use these specialists to perform various functions around the home. Yes, it is easier to bring in professionals, but it is a lost valuable opportunity to pass on the skills of the parents to their own children. Training one’s children to be self-sufficient has always been a goal of a thoughtful parent. Emphasizing the future skills that might be necessary and important in a child’s life is wise and prudent time spent. Spending time to learn a host of tasks such as cooking, cleaning, yard work, painting, or repairing things is necessary and invaluable to learn. Regardless of their family financial status, the children should learn skills and methods to complete tasks and projects should their family financial status change. By fathers and mothers passing their knowledge and skills onto their children it allows the next generation to be more prepared for future economic changes. Besides these valuable and necessary skills will give them a heads up in successfully completing many projects and activities in their future. By explaining, demonstrating and having children participate with them in as many home activities as possible parents allow the children to have their questions answered to better function when they reach adulthood. The greater the participation of the children of the family, the better prepared they will be to become high functioning adults. Having children help can slow down the completion of the tasks at first but prepares the children to be competent to take care of the constant number of tasks that arise around the home. Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers and blogs, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN and the latest book entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can see many of Dr. Maglio’s articles at www.drmaglioblogspot.com.

BEING KIND TO OTHERS PAYS DIVIDENDS By Domenick J. Maglio PhD Traditional Realist We are becoming a culture where everyone wants to be accepted for whatever they do. Even if they are not acting kindly to others, they expect others to be kind to them. They seem to have forgotten that what you give out to others you often get back exactly what you gave out. Some people do not understand this truism that how you treat others will come back to you as good or bad. The Golden Rule still applies. However, there are too many who expect others to be especially considerate of them without earning it. In their thinking process, they are special and should be treated with kid gloves. This is not how most people react to other people who are strangers. Many people make a quick assessment from the first impression of a stranger by their initial encounter. If an individual greets a stranger in an appropriate, respectful manner he will generally receive a positive reaction in return. Most people want to make a good impression keeping the conversation general and pleasant. However, there are some who have a chip in their shoulder. Many of them are bitter about some aspect of their lives, a recent death of a loved one, a serious physical ailment, or past serious setback of another personal issue. Instead of putting their problems into the context of their lives, these people blow it out of proportion to the point of outrageous anger. It is better to realize their seemingly momentous crisis will run its course and fade into a past memory. This realization often will help the person become emotionally stronger and mentally wiser. On the other hand, a person may hang onto their obsession and anger without accepting and tolerating it as another difficult but important learning experience. It can ruin the person’s emotional and mental balance and cause unnecessary problems in other aspects of their life. An individual hanging onto anger and pain often becomes intolerable to their loved ones. This intense emotional anger can result in mental instability and even mental illness. Instead of focusing on how another person hurt them, they should place themselves in the position of helping another person in need. By extending their energy and caring to others, the emotionally wounded person feels uplifted rather than passing time feeling angry. Being kind to another leaves a person in a positive mental state. Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers and blogs, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN and the latest book entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can see many of Dr. Maglio’s articles at www.drmaglioblogspot.com.