Homeschooling Insights: The “Last Mile” Advantage of Homeschooling

Each of the last three years I have homeschooled my daughter, I gain new insight the educational process. I am currently relearning through my daughter basics like handwriting, phonics, counting, addition and subtraction. I watch her brain turn over these ideas, see where she gets stuck and coach her to develop her own reasoning process.

Through this fascinating and ever-challenging journey, I am continually struck by very small insights about what makes homeschooling work. On its face, you would not expect the educational gains that are often reflected in various academic test results. How can an untrained, inexperienced teacher/parent get better results than a fully credentialed, experienced teacher, or a proven curriculum or a school with a track record of generations?

This year, I realized the key success factor of homeschooling . . . what I refer to as the “last mile” effect. The student, by the nature of homeschooled instruction, is forced to fully reason each question from start to finish with no interruption by other students.

In the homeschool classroom, there is usually no one there to shout out the answer for the student (although the situation does arise with exuberant older siblings). The teacher waits (. . . and waits . . . and waits, sometimes) for the student to puzzle it out. The student is constantly exercising the portion of the brain where the brain encounters something completely unfamiliar and has to find the circuitry to connect it with a reasoned solution.

In the traditional school classroom, the teacher cannot wait until every last student in the classroom independently arrives at the solution. There is always a bright student who provides the answer quickly. It has been my experience that if someone else provides the answer for you, it changes how your brain processes the initial question. With the answer in hand, you simply memorize how to get to an answer or formula specifically rather than undertaking the more arduous process of reasoning in small degrees from a broad understanding to a more specific understanding to a specific answer.

For example, if the teacher asks, “What is 2+2?” or “What is the plural of puppy?” someone probably quickly shouts out “4” or “puppies.” If you weren’t finished answering the question for yourself before the answer was provided, your brain may just memorize the answer without any fundamental understanding of what it means to add or the rules for making a plural for words ending in y. So when the teacher asks another related question, like 3+3 or the plural of “party,” the student is no better off.

The student may also be learning, “When faced with a difficult question, just wait for ___ to answer and then memorize that answer.” The gifted students are constantly exercising their “last mile” reasoning and will likely continue to do well but the slower students are not.

All is not grim for traditional school students, however. They too can get the “last mile” effect through a very simple tactic:

At home learning, one-on-one with a skilled adult is essential for all children. It doesn’t have to be for a long period of time or for a huge number of questions. If your child’s teacher sends homework home, don’t treat it as “extra practice.” It is “the practice.” It is essential. Make sure your child does her homework and that at least a few questions are done in your presence to confirm your child’s understanding of the material. This is hardly a novel idea but is powerfully important.

I wish that more school districts would keep this “last mile” learning in their educational priorities. When teachers say they need smaller class sizes or more tutoring, particularly for the youngest learners, they really and truly do. I also wish the schools here in Virginia would spend less time and energy enforcing tardiness policies and more on “homework” policies.

In our household, it appears to me that this “last mile” effect is cumulative and addictive. My daughter has gone from wanting to know the answer right away on her questions to saying, “Don’t tell me!” and, this year, to not even wanting hints or reminders when she gets stuck. Sometimes she will just sit there quietly for a bit (to the point where I am not sure if she is really still thinking about the question or just daydreaming) and then will burst forth with the correct answer! It’s pretty amazing to watch.

Readers, what is your experience with the “last mile” effect? Do you see it in your children/students? Please share in the comments.