Educating With A Vengeance!! (Home Schooling versus Conventional Schools)

Member Name: ztnelv

Product:	Home Schooling versus Conventional Schools
Date:	29/10/06 (287 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Closer family ties, flexibility to vacation as needed, one - on - one teaching available

Disadvantages: less personal time available

Homeschooling is a very interesting and highly controversial subject as many people have different views on how children should be educated.

As a child, I always thought it would be great to school my own children. Of course, homeschooling must be agreed by both husband and wife, due to it being such a time-consuming job.

When I eventually married, I don't think homeschooling was exactly the most important issue in our minds and it was not really discussed. By the time I had our eldest son, it never really crossed my mind but by the time our son reached kindergarten age, we decided to put him in a Christian school that was available and within our budget. Before the school year was up we had to move due to a job change for my husband. Once again we put our eldest son into a Christian school. By this time, I had 2 more children that needed attention and I was well on my way to becoming just another regular mother with all the children in a regular school until.....

This was quite a small school with only 2 classes. The large class was the older children from year 4 - 8 and the smaller class was from reception - year 3. I was the teacher in the smaller class and had only 3 children in my class. The boy had been in the older class originally (his mother was the teacher of the older class) and he had many problems. He began improving in my class due to having one-on-one instruction and not having anyone to agitate him. He was the oldest in the class but needed the most help. I saw a change in his behaviour and both his mother and I were pleased.

The problem I had was not the children in the school but my children. I began seeing my two little ones go from enjoying time with us to becoming wild, little brats. Of course, as one of the teachers in the school, I was able to keep them in a little classroom next to mine and would check in on them while they played with their toys. Being quite busy during the day I didn't really notice too much the disintegration of their behaviour. Two weeks before school was to finish, I began noticing how badly they behaved and told my husband that I could not continue in the school. He was in agreement and as the headmaster of the school, he finished teaching the class while I took my children home to spend time with them as a mother and finish up my eldest son's homeschooling.

After another move with my husband’s company, I continued schooling my eldest son the next year. By this time, I was learning a great deal of patience. I wasn't patient all the time but I was trying as I knew the importance of being a good mother. The other two boys were still too young to start any schooling.

The following year, I decided I would try to school my two youngest sons, especially as the youngest really wanted to do something. My middle son was 7 by then and I knew he was ready as he was begging to read but my youngest was 5 and I wasn't completely sure about him. I started teaching abc's and phonics to both of them and my middle son was reading 3-4 syllable words within about 4 months time. I was so pleased because I knew it was the curriculum I used, especially as I followed what the author said to do. My youngest son did learn the sounds but wasn't quite ready to go on to the smaller case letters so I began all over again and he was ready the second time through. I also used going over the alphabet with my two youngest to teach my eldest handwriting, which came in handy!

The next year, we decided to send our children to a school to maybe get something from the school that I may not have been able to give them. I also thought that it would be nice to be able to have some time for me. Of course, that ended up not happening because I found a job at a child-care centre and worked throughout the day. When they were off school they would come to the child-care centre and stay there most times until I was done unless their father was off early.

The next year was spent doing a lot of travelling so we believed it was necessary to school them at home but when we finally arrived in England, we felt it was important to settle them down in school. My eldest went to a high school and my two youngest went to a primary school in a little village. On the whole, we were quite pleased with the primary school but very upset over the high school.

There were several areas that we had major concerns over the way they were teaching the children and went to the head-mistress to discuss this problem. Of course there was no allowance for redress from the head-mistress and we made the decision to take our eldest out of the school so we would finally school him at home with no more thoughts of putting him in a school. When the other two boys finished at the little village school, we brought them home, as well.

What is the answer in the end to all of this? I believe, if I had it to do all over again, I would just homeschool the boys throughout their schooling years. I listed just a slight few of the advantages but I would like to make very clear what the real advantages are.

1. It encourages a closer knit family and gives each one a true feeling of belonging.
2. The children know and feel the love given to them by the attention of the parents during the school time. There is no doubt with them when the parent is really trying to do their best at it.
3. It teaches the parent patience toward the child(ren) and gives a better relationship in that manner.
4. There is a flexibility (money wise) to be able to do things at less cost in the schooling as there is not the huge amount of money to be put out.
5. There is also a flexibility in when the family can take their holiday time especially at a cheaper rate than if they were at a school and went at the same time as everyone else.
6. There are always issues in the school with children bringing home bad habits from other children, teacher doesn't like the child, etc. This is not the case when they are homeschooled properly.
7. Some people complain about a socializing issue but in most cases this is NOT the case. As most homeschooled children are around adults more, they tend to learn how to solve problems in a more adult manner and grow up more respectful to adults then most children that attend a regular school and are thrown in with children their age. They learn how to socialize with most adults which will carry over into their time with children their age. This, in turn, gives them a greater appreciation for socializing as they become adults. Their interaction with others are well-rounded instead of being lopsided due to spending time with children all the time as most children don't know how to socialize properly anyway.

The disadvantages? A parent would obviously have less personal time available to them but then what's more important? The parent's personal time? or the child growing up to become well-rounded individuals in the community in which they live? I know we all appreciate well-rounded adults!

Summary: I highly recommend homeschooling as all the benefits far away the negatives.