Home schooling. What do you think?

[bigideas]

This is an article from The Times newspaper (UK) 22/12/2008. This is something which is more possible now than ever and I know it has come up in posts before. Would be interested to know what anyone thinks or if they have any experience of it.

Learning without school - the joys of home-schooling and how you can do it
http://timesonline.typepad.com/schoolga ... ithou.html

So much of the education debate is about schools, universities and nurseries, but there is a thriving minority who choose to educate their children at home. As I well know, this minority can be very vocal - the comments on my post on why homeschooling might not be such a great idea came thick and fast - but it's well worth listening to what they have to say. Here Ross Mountney, author of the newly published Learning Without School, explains why she and her family have gone for the homeschooling option...

"When most parents think of education they tend to think of schools, classrooms, tests and teachers. But for us, and thousands of families like us, none of those things enter into it. Because for the past nine years now we've been home educating.

Home educating sounds a bit weird and 'alternative'. But for many of us it's become a normal way of life. Just as our normal family routine was to don uniforms, pack lunches, remember homework, and make endless decisions as to whether they were really ill or just had anti-school-itus, it became the routine to create an education that suited our children, plan masses of field trips, group activities with other home schoolers, outings and do 'homework' in the day. And the illnesses disappeared. In actual fact, we
weren't at home much - there are so many experiences outside the home that are wonderful educational opportunities we had to plan time to be at home just to get the boring bits done.

That's the fantastic thing about home schooling; it's an opportunity to keep education interesting. We're conditioned to think that there's only one way to educate; at school, behind a desk, with teachers, writing stuff down. But home schooling families are demonstrating that there are as many ways to
approach education as there are to approach a lifestyle. Some stay within the familiar confines of working through course books and syllabi. But others choose more open-ended approaches, sometimes led by the child's interests, and basic skills are practised through them. Thus education becomes a natural part of living a life rather than separated from it.

But what most home schoolers have in common, shared with all parents whether their kids are in school or not, is a desire to see their child happy, fulfilled, achieving to their potential, developing their personal skills as well as academic skills, and experiencing good relationships. Above all, to have a happy experience with learning. And it is the lack of those outcomes in some schools that drives so many parents to home school.

Contrary to what you might think, educating your child at home isn't difficult. It's just an extension of good parenting. When I say "good parenting", I simply mean being caring, interested adults who are willing and able to learn themselves. You don't have to know everything - you have the Internet for that. You don't have to teach everything - children learn enormous amounts without teaching. You don't have to sit working all day because once away from the time-wasting disruptions of school, children can learn very quickly.

The hardest thing to do is to make the decision in the first place. And then manage your family routines. For some though, the decision isn't hard; for some school is so badly suited to their children for a variety of reasons, bullying included, that parents withdraw them and work out the practicalities later. For others it's more of a philosophical decision based on educational views. For most it's a decision based on the fact that parents want their child to have a happy experience with learning.

You might ask: What's happiness got to do with it? Well - it's essential because the simple fact is that happy children learn best; are the most successful at achieving happy working lives.

Creating happy learning lives for children does not mean pandering to their every whim or never getting them through stuff they would rather not do. It just means respecting that their opinions matter. Their comfort matters. Their personalities matter. Sometimes within our educational system the politics matters more than the children.

The real beauty of home schooling is that parents and children create their own learning styles and their own life. And only by doing that do children learn how to build their life beyond school. Which in the end must be what education is for; building good and happy lives.

Surprisingly, to home school you only need a few simple things:

· To be interested

· To have the time and be able to adjust your working life to fit

· To have a good relationship with your child

The rest - all the educational bits - you can learn as you go along.

Home education isn't for everyone. But for some kids, including teenagers, it's a far better option than school."

[nanyang]

This is an article from The Times newspaper (UK) 22/12/2008. This is something which is more possible now than ever and I know it has come up in posts before. Would be interested to know what anyone thinks or if they have any experience of it.

Learning without school - the joys of home-schooling and how you can do it
http://timesonline.typepad.com/schoolga ... ithou.html

So much of the education debate is about schools, universities and nurseries, but there is a thriving minority who choose to educate their children at home. As I well know, this minority can be very vocal - the comments on my post on why homeschooling might not be such a great idea came thick and fast - but it's well worth listening to what they have to say. Here Ross Mountney, author of the newly published Learning Without School, explains why she and her family have gone for the homeschooling option...

"When most parents think of education they tend to think of schools, classrooms, tests and teachers. But for us, and thousands of families like us, none of those things enter into it. Because for the past nine years now we've been home educating.

Home educating sounds a bit weird and 'alternative'. But for many of us it's become a normal way of life. Just as our normal family routine was to don uniforms, pack lunches, remember homework, and make endless decisions as to whether they were really ill or just had anti-school-itus, it became the routine to create an education that suited our children, plan masses of field trips, group activities with other home schoolers, outings and do 'homework' in the day. And the illnesses disappeared. In actual fact, we
weren't at home much - there are so many experiences outside the home that are wonderful educational opportunities we had to plan time to be at home just to get the boring bits done.

That's the fantastic thing about home schooling; it's an opportunity to keep education interesting. We're conditioned to think that there's only one way to educate; at school, behind a desk, with teachers, writing stuff down. But home schooling families are demonstrating that there are as many ways to
approach education as there are to approach a lifestyle. Some stay within the familiar confines of working through course books and syllabi. But others choose more open-ended approaches, sometimes led by the child's interests, and basic skills are practised through them. Thus education becomes a natural part of living a life rather than separated from it.

But what most home schoolers have in common, shared with all parents whether their kids are in school or not, is a desire to see their child happy, fulfilled, achieving to their potential, developing their personal skills as well as academic skills, and experiencing good relationships. Above all, to have a happy experience with learning. And it is the lack of those outcomes in some schools that drives so many parents to home school.

Contrary to what you might think, educating your child at home isn't difficult. It's just an extension of good parenting. When I say "good parenting", I simply mean being caring, interested adults who are willing and able to learn themselves. You don't have to know everything - you have the Internet for that. You don't have to teach everything - children learn enormous amounts without teaching. You don't have to sit working all day because once away from the time-wasting disruptions of school, children can learn very quickly.

The hardest thing to do is to make the decision in the first place. And then manage your family routines. For some though, the decision isn't hard; for some school is so badly suited to their children for a variety of reasons, bullying included, that parents withdraw them and work out the practicalities later. For others it's more of a philosophical decision based on educational views. For most it's a decision based on the fact that parents want their child to have a happy experience with learning.

You might ask: What's happiness got to do with it? Well - it's essential because the simple fact is that happy children learn best; are the most successful at achieving happy working lives.

Creating happy learning lives for children does not mean pandering to their every whim or never getting them through stuff they would rather not do. It just means respecting that their opinions matter. Their comfort matters. Their personalities matter. Sometimes within our educational system the politics matters more than the children.

The real beauty of home schooling is that parents and children create their own learning styles and their own life. And only by doing that do children learn how to build their life beyond school. Which in the end must be what education is for; building good and happy lives.

Surprisingly, to home school you only need a few simple things:

· To be interested

· To have the time and be able to adjust your working life to fit

· To have a good relationship with your child

The rest - all the educational bits - you can learn as you go along.

Home education isn't for everyone. But for some kids, including teenagers, it's a far better option than school."

We're not having second thoughts are we ??

[bigideas]

self quote:
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 3:04 pm
If I have any reservations about paying 100,000 bt for kindergaarten, it is that many of the parents who send their kids there (especially parents being both Thai) do not speak any English at home, and so send their kids to the school with absolutely no English at all, hoping that the teacher will do all the work for them. Therefore, those of us with kids who were reciting ABC at one and a half years and speak alot of English at home get frustrated that they are going so slowly (ie. covering one letter of the alphabet every two weeks. ) I actually worry about her regressing and forgetting stuff we do at home using vocabulary which far exceeds 'chair', 'table', 'book' and 'pencil' which she is learning at school. For this reason, I school her at home one day a week. Gives me peace of mind that she's going forwards not back. And I recommend it to other parents, especially if you send your kid to a homogenous Thai school.



I've always been big on home schooling but only as a partial solution to the inadequate schooling situation here. I see school as a club that you can attend for 3-5 days a week for the social aspect, but not an institution that you should have to attend 5 days a week whether it's doing you good or not. My daughter will continue to attend yamsaard but I would be very interested to find out if other people have had experience of education from the home or educating from home.

[margaretcarnes]

A very interesting topic, and one which should catch the attention of farang parents in LOS. Maybe for different reasons to those used in favour of home schooling in the Uk though.
Home schooling in the UK is nothing new. Once the domain of parents seen as 'hippy drop outs' it is now, IMO, seen as the only way to protect children from the inadequacies of the State system.
I do have issues with home schooling despite it's obvious advantages of flexibility and maybe more experiential learning. First - and most importantly - is the lack of opportunity for children to mix with their peers and to experience competition.
Second - the issue of recognised qualifications. A broad based learning is fine, but kids still need those certificates (however much they are now devalued.)
I would also be concerned about how a home educated child seeking University entrance would be treated, and how they would react to being suddenly thrust into group learning situations.
State education does have it's faults. Not least the distractions caused by the more disruptive pupils, and the teachers inability to exercise control. Home learning can overcome those problems.
But do any advocates of Home Learning really stop to consider what the child really needs? School days are for forming friendships, some of which last a lifetime. For doing things out of the sight of adults. For taking risks. For keeping secrets. And for learning from mistakes.
Can any child educated at home ever feel free enough to become a truly independant adult in his own right?

[bigideas]

Hello Margaret,
Thanks for your viewpoint which gives lots of food for thought. Particularly what you say at the end about lifelong friendships. However, from what I have gathered so far about those who have tried it, far from it being confined to and dominated by the parent-child, there are lots of other agents who are employed to help out. The child could, where possible, be in-charge of things that he/she wants to do vocationally eg. performing arts, music, sports, art, technology or any other clubs they'd like to join and form lasting friendships, as I have in the past, through those hobbies/vocations. That would depend largely on what is economically feasible and what is available locally perhaps. Many parents have also employed other teachers to teach modern languages and other specialist subjects.

On the subject of recognised qualifications, it is easier now than ever to follow curriculums and buy materials online. See www.cgpbooks.co.uk and Oxford Open Learning www.ool.co.uk. People can follow a wide range of courses at their own pace, with online tutors even beyond 'A' Level. Furthermore Oxford Open Learning guarantees that so long as you hand in the coursework, if you don't pass the final exams, they'll give you your course fee money back!

Lastly, with forums like this one, I would imagine that it wouldn't be difficult to form friendships with likeminded parents and kids who are attempting to do the same thing. In that way you could pool resources and hopefully save money.

[margaretcarnes]

Some good points there BI, and I can certainly see some advantages of home schooling for farang and mixed children in LOS.
Even in the UK and other Western countries the flexibility to visit places, and take part in activities only available during the day, is something I'd not considered. Providing of course the parents have access (and not inconsiderable funds needed) to ensure a full and balanced programme.
Kids are like sponges though aren't they - and opportunities for teaching them exist in the smallest things - like a trip to the shops. If only more parents would take advantage of it.
I see plenty of Mums with kids in shops for example, and rarely - if ever - hear a parent explaining sizes/volume/weight/colours - or even reading out simple words on packaging for the childs' benefit. More often it's a child asking 'what's that Mum' and getting a 'don't know' in reply!
BTW surprised more HH parents haven't replied yet?