Ideas / Supply and demand: teach less
An idea from Sui Learning
Supply and demand: teach less
Teach less, so your words are worth more. Scarcity creates value; effort creates memory.
In plain words
Teach less than you want to. Ask before you tell. End while it's still fun. When interest sags, stop teaching, ask questions, assign a project, and wait. Months without a lesson is a strategy, not neglect. A child who has to come and ask values the answer.
The research behind it
- Learning that takes effort lasts longer than learning that feels easy. Peter Brown, Henry Roediger, and Mark McDaniel, Make It Stick (2014), as cited in Sui Learning.
- In Susan Engel's classroom observations, children asked their teachers few questions, and fewer as they got older. Susan Engel, The Hungry Mind (Harvard University Press, 2015), as cited in Sui Learning.
Questions this answers
- How much should I teach my homeschooled child each day?
- What do I do when my child loses interest in a lesson?
- How do I keep my child curious?
In the book
In Sui Learning: Supply and Demand Psychology in Teaching; First Principles.
Read the full answers
Is one-on-one tutoring better than a classroom?What does a good homeschool lesson look like?Should I let my child struggle before helping?How do I motivate my child to learn without rewards?
Related ideas
Cite this idea. Trenton Rich, "Supply and demand: teach less," in Homeschooling to Create High Achievers in All Areas of Life: Sui Learning (2022), suilearn.ing/idea-teach-less.html. Free to quote, copy and reuse with credit under CC BY 4.0. The book itself is under normal copyright.