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Ask HN: Will you send your child to Khanacademy instead of a physical school?

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Re: Ask HN: Will you send your child to Khanacademy instead of a physical school?

#11

Post by rohan_shah »

st1x7 wrote: post #9

No. Khanacademy is great for learning about a subject but no online service is a good replacement for going to school. In addition to better teacher interaction, there's just way too much meta-learning that goes on at school - how to behave around other people, how to be away from your parents, how to form relationships, how to deal with authority, how to speak in front of people etc. I would feel like I'm socially c…

So if they want to a class where a teacher was general present but everyone learned through KA while doing interactive activities in between - how about that?

Re: Ask HN: Will you send your child to Khanacademy instead of a physical school?

#12

Post by [deleted] »

rohan_shah wrote: post #11
st1x7 wrote: post #9

No. Khanacademy is great for learning about a subject but no online service is a good replacement for going to school. In addition to better teacher interaction, there's just way too much meta-learning that goes on at school - how to behave around other people, how to be away from your parents, how to form relationships, how to deal with authority, how to speak in front of people etc. I would feel like I'm socially c…

So if they want to a class where a teacher was general present but everyone learned through KA while doing interactive activities in between - how about that?

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Will you send your child to Khanacademy instead of a physical school?

#13

Post by st1x7 »

rohan_shah wrote: post #11
st1x7 wrote: post #9

No. Khanacademy is great for learning about a subject but no online service is a good replacement for going to school. In addition to better teacher interaction, there's just way too much meta-learning that goes on at school - how to behave around other people, how to be away from your parents, how to form relationships, how to deal with authority, how to speak in front of people etc. I would feel like I'm socially c…

So if they want to a class where a teacher was general present but everyone learned through KA while doing interactive activities in between - how about that?

That sounds like the worst of everything - you won't be getting the benefit of having someone who can explain things to you in person (kind of wasting a teacher) and you also won't have the opportunity that KA gives you to take things at your own pace.

Re: Ask HN: Will you send your child to Khanacademy instead of a physical school?

#14

Post by tcbasche »

I hate the idea of some company replacing a heavily-regulated part of society, and a cornerstone of it at that. School is less about the content and more about learning how to learn and how to function as a human being within our society.

To add to that, children probably need less YouTube...

Re: Ask HN: Will you send your child to Khanacademy instead of a physical school?

#17

Post by taxcoder »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #16

art of making real life friends I homeschooled my sons. They were better off socially without being bullied and what not at school. The argument that homeschooled kids don't learn social skills is old and tired.

As a homeschoolee, I agree with this, IF the parents make sure there is some other social circle. That circle does not need to be primarily made up of people the child's age, but needs to include some near age peers.

I am skeptical that online learning is ideal for a child's development, but have no evidence one way or the other.

Re: Ask HN: Will you send your child to Khanacademy instead of a physical school?

#18

Post by codingdave »

rohan_shah wrote: post #10
codingdave wrote: post #2

Nope - we looked into it. I love KA. But my kids hate it. They hate most of the educational apps out there that we have tried, including the ones forced upon them this year for remote learning. I see a big problem where adults are creating apps that teach in ways adults think kids want to be taught. But it isn't really hitting the mark.

How about a general tutor + KA? So the tutor will take of queries and keep a class full of children interactive - but children will learn maths through KA?

That would be better, but that isn't really their complaint.

I hear three main complaints about a variety of sites:

1) The curriculum isn't right for their ages - it is either too cute, made for littler kids, or too much like a lecture, and would be better for older kids. KA tends to trend more towards the lecture side of that spectrum, other sites tend to be too cute. (This is kids from 8-13 giving this feedback.)

2) They dislike the UX. They don't phrase it that way, but they just don't like how they have to interact with questions, videos, etc.

3) Math on KA, specifically, only has one way to teach each topic - if you don't get it, you are out of luck. This is where a tutor would absolutely help.

Re: Ask HN: Will you send your child to Khanacademy instead of a physical school?

#20

Post by cdnsteve »

The challenge with the public school system is that your learning at the group pace, which means if you are smart and a fast learner, you're going to be very bored. My youngest is 8 and learning 0 to 3 times tables right now. My oldest is 11 in grade 6 and just doing his 3 times tables...

The speed of the class for my grade 6 is not keeping pace and they are doing stuff my son in grade 3 is doing.

My youngest did a 0 to 3 times table quiz up to 12 and got them all correct.

What do you do? If I let my kids go on something like KhanAcademy they will be 10x ahead of the class and probably make it unbearable to be in class.

I find public school extremely slow paced, nearly every day the kids tell them they didn't learn anything. They are constantly getting substitute teachers.

Private school is cost prohibitive but I think there's potential for a hybrid with something like KhanAcademy that could work.

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