When hypotheses, experiments and analyses of results spill into all subjects, it creates wonder-filled realists with sharp observation skills, daring designs and logical minds brimming with "what ifs".
Independence is just as academic as experiment design, and both require lab hours to be any good at them. Testing ideas, systems, interests and abilities gives depth to understanding that little else can. Explanations have more power when there is experience to reference. That is why the lessons learned in a classroom tend to fade, but those learned in life transform us.
If all of education more closely resembled a lab, each student would be more engaged and better equipped for life at large. In a lab, conditions can be controlled, the number of factors can be limited and things can be isolated to observe. All of this is done so when the complexity of the world is reintroduced, the web of factors at work can be recognized more quickly, and the likely outcomes can be assessed with greater accuracy. This allows for proactive, rather than reactive response.
"In the discovery of secret things and in the investigation of hidden causes, stronger reasons are obtained from sure experiments and demonstrated arguments than from probable conjectures and opinions." - William Gilbert
Creating a safe environment for each child to experiment with abilities, interests, ideas and systems is foundational to a comprehensive and lasting education. Safe does not mean without adversity. Safe means buffered from the harshness of the world, while supported by tactful yet critically honest feedback and encouragement.
Training students to formulate their own hypotheses, deconstruct and analyze not only things, but situations, performance, paradigms and cultures as well, builds scholars. No lab is complete without addressing the meaning of the results and the practical and ethical applications, therefore the balancing of knowledge with wisdom becomes an open and frequent conversation the more a homeschool resembles a lab.
"A scientist in his laboratory is not a mere technician; he is also a child confronting natural phenomena that impress him as though they were fairy tales." -Marie Curie
Our Homeschool Objective #2
To create an environment that fosters experimentation and thorough analysis of ideas, systems, interests and abilities by exploring, observing, creating and considering with measured realism and endless wonder..
-S. E. Bocker
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