Every day I see more and more people desperately asking for advice about homeschooling their children. I personally get asked many questions each week about online service providers, different options and what the best route to follow is. I offer advice to all who ask and I am always happy to help.
First let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am a homeschool mom whose children have both completed their schooling successfully and are at university and about to go to university. I am also a teacher who never really liked school. I homeschooled my children from day one and spent many a sleepless night wondering if I was doing the right thing. At this point in my life, I can say that it was the best decision I ever made and my children are both happy and well adjusted.
First the good: I spent many happy hours reading to my children on every topic under the sun and ended up learning a great deal in the process. We made bicarbonate of soda volcanoes and rockets, did science experiments and went on hundreds of incredibly interesting outings. If I had to tell you about even some of them, we would be here for weeks. We made a laser pointer microscope and watched the bacteria swim across the wall that we used as a screen. I co-opted friends and family to allow us to visit their places of work to show my children what really happens in the world. We baked every week and today my sons cook delicious meals completely independently. In fact, I’m banned from the kitchen when they are cooking! My children worked at an animal shelter where they had a fantastic time. We belonged to a group of homeschoolers who started an Art appreciation group and the children created art in many different styles and we visited galleries and learned about the lives of numerous artists. My mental maths became excellent as we used to do our maths in the car while driving somewhere exciting. My children both loved English and wrote mini books and comics as soon as they could write. They were very creative in their cursive writing books and always wrote something funny instead of the sentences that they were supposed to write.
Then the bad: there are many people who judged us for homeschooling and everyone was always asking but how do they socialise. My children had to learn to communicate with many people of different ages, not merely same age peers. They had to work with children much younger and much older than themselves. They coped in real world situations not just the playground (where they don’t always learn the best behaviour.) Sometimes it was lonely and frustrating. My eldest would often argue about the work and the way I was teaching it. When he found something boring he would often just not do it. This challenged me to tailor his education to suit him and it made me find ways around. I had to be creative. He learned fractions from an online programme that he pronounced far better than learning from me.
Then the ugly: sometimes your children don’t want you to teach them and then you have to find a way to facilitate their learning while giving up control. They need to find their own way and sometimes they need other teachers. This can be difficult to do. Spending all day, every day with your children can sometimes lead to frustration on both sides. Learning to get along has been a great life skill (that came in very handy during lockdown.)
In conclusion: although it wasn’t easy I believe that it worked. I have a good relationship with both of my children and they feel supported by me.
Advice on homeschooling.
Options: School at home
In this option you can choose to follow a curriculum and buy books, a whole programme or just normal textbooks and workbooks and work your way systematically through them. I tried to do this many times and ended up not using a lot of expensive books. If you are structured and disciplined and prepared to sit with your children and go through all the work with them then this method can work well. If your children focus well and like to work in books this will suit them.
Pros: It is structured. You know where your children are in terms of their grade. It makes you feel secure. It is easy to follow along with the programme.
Cons: You are solely responsible for their schooling and their motivation to work. Some children find it boring and so might some parents.
Option: Homeschool at someone else’s home.
This is technically not homeschooling but rather more of a cottage school situation. Here parents take their children to a venue where they sit and work or where someone else teaches them in a small group.
Pros: Parents aren’t responsible for the day to day learning and can do the fun stuff with their children. The children get out of the house and can spend their breaks with peers.
Cons: Parents have to trust that their child is learning what they should be learning. This is like an unregulated school. Cost of the curriculum.
Option: Unschooling.
In this option you allow your children to learn from life. They can learn maths and reading while cooking or baking and they can learn other life skills by practicing them. They can learn about gardening by growing their own garden and other activities.
Pros: You can just live your life and your children are a part of it. It doesn’t require anything extra. No extra costs.
Cons: They might decide they want to go to university and then you need to find a way for them to get some sort of school qualification. This can be tricky if they have never been to school but it is not impossible. Children will do what it takes when they really want something.
Option: Eclectic approach
This is the approach where you do some formal daily work in addition to outings and other alternative activities that lead to learning. This is the approach that I used. We did formal work in maths, reading and writing every day. My children were able to cover a full grade’s curriculum in about 3 hours a day for 3 days a week for 3 months. Once I knew we could do this we relaxed a lot. Then we still did maths every day but we didn’t worry so much. I opted for an online maths programme that covered the whole grade. We did this for 20-30 minutes a day. In addition to this we used maths workbooks that were designed to be a page a day of work. That was all the formal work that we did until the end of grade 9. We did thousands of science experiments, watched hours of YouTube science videos and television programmes like Cosmos and Blue Planet. We also did puzzles and brain teasers, mazes and every other type of game. I read to my sons on various topics. We learned history by reading about it. My sons played Minecraft and did coding with apps. They wrote comics and stories and made stop motion movies. They did presentations with PowerPoint and KeyNote. The made their own physical and virtual flash cards for Afrikaans and painted and drew and designed. They played club soccer, participated in drama, did gymnastics and other group activities. I did a lot of driving for the extra murals and the weekly outings that we went on. We sometimes did our maths in the car. When my children were interested in something they researched it and did a presentation on it. They learned to look for information and illustrations and put them together in a coherent way. They learned to stand up in front of a group and present their work to others.
Pros: It can be fun. It is very flexible. You have time to do many interesting activities. Every trip becomes an educational experience and you start to see the wonder around you.
Cons: As a parent you are solely responsible for your child’s education. You have to do everything. It takes a lot of time and effort and planning. It is a full time job.
More advice: (The MOST important information)
Do a little maths and English every day from grade 1 to grade 9. Even half an hour each a day four days a week is enough. But do it. If your child is reluctant to read, read to them. They will eventually get tired of needing you to mediate the written word for them and they will want to learn to read. (Read exciting books and stop on a cliff-hanger…)
Start looking at doing formal work with them from the end of grade 9. I opted to follow the Cambridge Curriculum and my boys wrote IGCSE exams and AS level exams. They both got matric with exemption. Maths and English will be fine because they will have done them all along. Learning subjects can be started at grade 10 or IGCSE and the children will be fine. Obviously, some background experience of Science and Biology in terms of exploring the world around them will help but is not a prerequisite.
Join clubs. There are many different clubs where children can learn, meet friends and have fun. Science clubs, Robotics clubs.
Whatever option you choose remember that there is support out there. Homeschooling has become so popular that you can find help to get you going in whatever direction you choose. While doing this, I also had a career in teaching and now I have taken my passion and all the knowledge and experience gained from my homeschool journey to help other people on their homeschool journeys.
Catherine Cuff