Home Schooling
Another blogger has asked me why I don't Home School (HS) Rhianna considering I am a teacher and I do believe that HS is superior to a Public School Education (PSE). The question did make me think about Rhianna's attendance at the local primary school.
PSE is a fairly recent development in human social development. It wasn't so long ago that a child Rhianna's age would be half way down a coal mine helping out the family financially. And even if she was born into a wealthy family, children were educated at home by Mum and Dad.
As PSE took off, children were sent to specialised education institutions know as "schools" where children were separated from parents and daily life in the community. Later on, children were synthetically grouped according to age and peer scaffolding became a limited educational influence.
Research shows that academically children who are HS do better (by a considerable margin) than most PSE kids.
PSE is all about "outcomes" and test performances. Actual education is a by-product (if you're lucky). If you doubt this, ask yourself if you can remember how to do a calculus equation. Or better still, how often you use that equation in your every day life?
There is no beureaucracy with HS and your child learns at a flexible and tailored rate that is suitable for THEM.
Research also indicates that when children go to school they stop trying to emulate the behaviour and values of their parents and start to emulate the behaviour and values of their classmates. Now, this is great if your children's friends are future Mother Thereses'. Not so good if they are Charles Manson wannabes.
Bullying is a huge incentive to HS children. The effects of bullying can be catastrophic to children and I would not hesitate to HS my child if she was being bullied.
So why does Rhianna go to school?????
Well, at the age of 3 Rhianna saw children at a pre-school and begged to be able to attend. There were no tears or clinging to Mummy's leg. No, not even a backward glance as she raced off to play with the other kids.
And so she has remained. A kid who thrives on being with other kids. As my only other child is 18, she does need the company. And she LOVES school and everything about it, the uniform, the rules, singing, assemblies, scripture and sport. She embraces it all.
But if ever there came a time when she didn't I would re-evaluate our positon.
Plus, I figure we do such a lot of incidental teaching here at home anyway that she gets the best of both worlds (for now).
What are your thoughts?
4 comments:
Hi Vanessa come over from D2E. i love your blog so cute and you have a nice selection of posts. And can I borrow that little girls of yours for a bit? I was not blessed with a girl just a son.
Home schooling I think that you appear to be making the proper decision for your family. You are teaching Rhianna at home still but she is getting the contact with other children that she seems to want.
Blessings
My husbands philosophy has always been that the main purpose of school is not to "learn" as such but more to learn how to socialise, think, be a part of society, etc. I think he's pretty right and it's along the lines you were suggesting. My dh is very smart, and can remember most anything, so he's always "teaching" our girls. I think if your kids happy attending whatever school and you're happy than that's all that matters. Teaching our kids to be a nice person is THE most important thing as far as I'm concerned.
Libby
I think you've made the great point that this is what works best for your daughter now. She is a good student who is learning at school. Sometimes this doesn't happen and people do better with home education. I am a teacher and know I want to home school my children and be part of a strong home schooling group so my children have that socialization with other children. I have always disliked that students are grouped only by age and often learn to be just as silly as their peers and don't get enough of a range of interactions to mature more steadily. I'm glad you are able to do the best of both worlds!
Thanks so much for your supportive comments. I really appreciate the time you have taken to reply.
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