It won't be long until it's time for us to start applying for school places for my oldest son, but lately I've noticed that more and more of my peers are opting to home educate their children.
I was intrigued by this, and so I've spent a bit of time looking into how home and online education works and whether it's something that we should be considering ourselves.
I have to admit that school wasn't a fun time for me and I'm left with no positive memories or experiences of it, which gives me a lot of concern when it comes to sending my own children.
Home education seems to offer a lot of benefits, here are what I believe are the biggest selling points.
*Individual interests can be followed and learning style can be adapted to - I believe that all children learn in a different way and thrive in different environments. Not every child is a "classroom" child who will do well in a traditional environments - many children will learn more with a hands-on approach, a more relaxed schedule and more freedom to decide the topics which interest them. I believe that children's interests should be followed and encouraged wherever possible, and school curriculums can't always allow for that.
*Flexibility - It's a fact of life that different people function best at different times of the day. Some of us are morning people, some of us are not. My oldest son is the farthest thing from a morning people and although he gets up at around 8 am most days, he doesn't really come to life until after 10 am - this sometimes worries me when I think of him going to school as would he really be open to learning to his maximum potential at 9am every day? Home schooling allows far more freedom to decide which hours will be used for education, and also offers more freedom when it comes to family trips and holidays too.
*Greater social possibilities - It's often stated that home education results in children not knowing how to socialise or interact with other children, but actually the opposite could be the case. When children are home educated, it's important to ensure that they are given the opportunity to socialise with their peers in other ways such as by attending various "after school" clubs or groups - this means that they are more likely to be exposed to children of varying ages rather than being put into a class with only people in their age range. It also means that the time they spent with their peers is in a more social environment, rather than during a time where the focus is on learning.
All in all, home education and ELearning is something that does interest me and something I'd like to give more consideration to.
I do have my concerns of course, my partner & I like to think of ourselves as reasonably intelligent people, but would we really have what it takes to educate our children to a decent standard and help them to reach their full potential? If this was an avenue that we were to explore, we'd be sure to enlist the help of home education specialists such as Future School to ensure we had all the necessary tools at hand to the best job possible.
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