As parents, we have a variety of reasons for homeschooling our children. If you’re like me, your list is long, but somewhere toward the top is the privilege of choosing the content and delivery method that you believe is best for them.
Recently, I’ve been hearing more and more parents say they’re using AI to plan their homeschooling curriculum and even to grade assignments, and I have felt burdened to issue a warning. So, in love and solidarity, here it is:
AI is not a content expert. It parrots what it finds on the internet, and we all know that not everything on the internet is valuable or even true. When we choose a published curriculum for our kids, we typically want to know that an expert created it, and we want to know what that person’s worldview is. AI content is often erroneous. And what is AI’s worldview?
AI has no experience with educational methodology. It can collect ideas from online resources, but it certainly has no expertise in providing meaningful, individualized, and proven learning strategies. Having a teaching degree isn’t a requirement for teaching our children at home, but if I’m not sure how to teach a specific subject, I turn to someone who does. Real teachers with real experience have written curriculum materials for that very reason. Trusting them makes much more sense than trusting AI.
AI has no experience with homeschooling. Again, it can summarize homeschooling advice it finds online, but it cannot evaluate which of the advice is “good” or (more importantly) good for your family. If you want meaningful guidance about homeschooling in general, look to other homeschooling families for counsel that is genuine, thoughtful, and, well, human.
AI is not ideal for assessing student work. It provides generic feedback with no consideration for a student’s own voice, individual struggles, or personal progress. Do we really want a robot to evaluate our children? If our goal is to churn out robot-like writers rather than thinkers, then yes. If we want to foster our children’s unique minds, souls, and voices, then absolutely not.
Artificial intelligence is just that—artificial! AI may be free, convenient, and even helpful for mindless tasks, but when it comes to the weighty task (and beautiful privilege) of teaching our own children, we should be careful who (or what) we trust for help.
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the author and should not be taken to represent the views of Excelsior Classes, LLC or the consortium of teachers.
