Homeschooling is a great thing. The list of advantages it offers is undoubtedly long, but it would not be true to say that everyone should take their children out of school and start teaching them at home.
And there are many reasons for that but I will focus here on one that I hear most often in conversations:
“I wouldn’t be able to do it, I’m not a teacher…”
Initially, I thought the same – that I wouldn’t be able to do it because English is not my first language. For many parents, maths seems to be such an obstacle. Whatever it is, many of us think that only a teacher can teach children language, mathematics, science, and in general, the school knows better how to teach…
Just recently, I was talking to a friend I hadn’t seen for a long time. Naturally, the conversation turned to our children: how they were doing in general and how they were doing at school. My friend complained that her son was behind at school and she had to spend a lot of time with him to catch up on school work. I laughed at this: So you homeschool too!
She’s not the only friend to spend extra time at home with children to make sure they’re not falling behind in school standards. This is our natural instinct as parents – we want to offer our children the best possible start in life and we are taught that good education opens the door to happy adulthood, where they will easily find a job, be self-sufficient and content.
And my lovely parents – I have some good news for you! Read on…
Educating a child is not only about introducing a rigorous curriculum with Mathematics, English, Science, foreign languages (including obligatory Latin 🙂 …) It is not only a weekly lesson plan with a lesson plan for each subject. It’s not just books with tedious exercises and manuals. And above all, education does not take place between 9 and 3.30 pm at school.
Education is a process that consists of all activities aimed at transmitting knowledge and shaping specific features and skills. It is aimed at intellectual, physical and moral development and is intended to prepare us for life in society.
In other words, it’s a lesson in life.
Wait a minute – preparation for life, character development, intellectual development…. Aren’t these our goals as parents? Don’t we really try to develop certain behaviors in our children every day by talking, assigning them responsibilities and spending time together? In other words – we educate our children every day! Following this line of thought, each of us teaches children at home. And there is no room here for ‘I couldn’t do it and it’s not for me’. As parents, we teach children at home, regardless of whether we are officially registered as home educators or whether our children go to a local school.
If we consider it from a positive perspective, it is essential to make the most of the time we spend with our children at home. By doing so, we can ensure that they grow up to be motivated, content, and cheerful individuals, instead of becoming lazy and perpetually unhappy. Let’s embrace this opportunity to create a nurturing and joyous learning environment!
It doesn’t matter whether you are on the path of home or systemic education… I would like to encourage you to think about what you want to achieve with your children.
Are you looking for ideas how to help your child with schoolwork?
Maybe you want to teach them how to think?
Or do you want them to learn the art of learning so they could be equipped for life. Once they know how to learn it will not matter if they study all the possible subjects at school as they will be able to learn anything when it becomes necessary.
Or maybe you just want to spend more time with your children and build positive relationships that are so important for our children’s mental health (later, during the turbulent period of adolescence, strong bonds between you will be the basis for communication.)
Even if you don’t think that home education is your thing and you don’t want to do it full-time, you can still plan time to learn with your children at home.
Don’t worry, you don’t have to prepare the classroom at home, take out textbooks or refresh your school knowledge of algebra. Just look at the calendar and add a few simple things to it, which you may even be already implementing.
Reading books, walking in the park or in the forest, baking or cooking together, visiting the library. Did you know that conversation is one of the best educational tools? And it costs nothing except time.
Parents of younger children are probably frowning now, thinking, ‘I’m already doing it!’ Great, it’s a good start – but don’t stop doing all these seemingly small things once your child starts school. Instead of worrying about whether your children are at the appropriate reading level, set aside time to read together. Nothing will improve your children’s vocabulary like a parent reading books that are beyond child’s own abilities. Instead of being upset that math at school is on the low level, take the good old Monopoly off the shelf, play it and see how quickly your children will understand the concept of money, investments and costs.
When I’m writing this post, it’s beautiful autumn outside, full of vibrant colours around. In front of our house there is a wonderfully colored maple tree, which is now losing its leaves and needs to be swept frequently. This is my younger boys’ job and a great opportunity to dust off their knowledge about why leaves change colors, why they fall and why you can’t resist jumping into a pile of freshly swept, colorful leaves! Here you go – learning responsibility (sweeping), observing changes in nature and great fun – three in one!
I have one final piece of advice – plan, plan and plan more! Unplanned things have a tendency to fall out of memory, to be pushed out by clubs, meetings with friends or tedious homework. Grab your calendar and write in it:
- Friday, 7pm, read Tresure Island,
- Saturday, 3pm, sit down together and write a letter to Grandma and Grandpa,
- Sunday, 11pm, Play a board game of the children’s choice.
You know what I mean…
I hope that on this blog you will find a lot of inspiration on how to introduce more opportunities for education into your everyday life, because home education is not only for weirdos!
