Homeschooling: Are You Ready To Teach?

Since the early months of 2020, the concept of homeschooling has become more normalized by necessity - but it’s also become more popular amongst parents who have noticed some very real benefits. Some found that their children learned a lot better at home, away from the traditional school environment. Others found that homeschooling allowed deeper insight into the emotional growth of their child. And others were relieved by the added measure of safety and anxiety that came with keeping their kids out of standardized school systems . And after a year or so doing it whether we wanted to or not, a lot of us were encouraged to think about seriously pulling kids from school and teach them ourselves. 

There’s nothing wrong with this at all. While homeschooling used to be considered more of a fringe, religious-based practice, in the modern world, it has become an alternative solution for those concerned with school safety, materials taught (or not taught - we’re looking at you, critical race studies) in school, and the mental health effects of burnout on a young person. Additionally, many stereotypes about homeschool are quite misleading. Socializing, for instance, is often seen as a positive aspect of school, however in many school systems, children are actually more likely to be exposed to bullying, restrictive behaviors, and emotional abuse than if they were schooled at home. And while there is the age old argument that this type of exposure can ‘build character',’ it has been proven time and time again that exposure to this kind of interaction at a young age is far more damaging long term, than it is beneficial. That’s not to say that homeschooling isn’t made better by getting the kids involved in extracurricular activities and clubs. In fact, we would argue that a good homeschool system has socializing in a healthy way fully on the agenda.

However, the biggest problem with homeschooling is whether or not a parent is equipped for it. If parents are not equipped for it, they can simply seek help from a professional. Visit math singapore to learn more.

Here are a few crucial things needed, bottom line.

Educational materials

Let’s start with the obvious: do you have access to the right educational materials? Do you know what your child needs to be learning based on their age or grade? Luckily, it’s fairly easy to can find this information online, and there are places to purchase educational materials for the kids. If you need books to help them develop their language skills, check out the Saddleback catalog online. But, be aware that you need to do this for every subject - math, science, history, and so on. 

This is where privilege comes in a bit - this is a pretty monumental task, and the books are fairly expensive to boot. Budgeting for educational materials and finding like-minded people in the area where you might be able to share resources can be a major help.

A learning space

Children needs to have access to a good learning space. And while we may have gripes with the way elementary schools teach children, we can’t deny that classrooms are designed with learning in mind. Their goal is to remove distractions and encourage children to get into the learning frame of mind. 

Is it possible to do this at home? Or is there a place to go to teach them without worrying about distractions? Find a way to create a little study or learning space - if you have a spare room, this is the perfect area to convert into a mini classroom. 

Patience

Maybe we should have led with this one… Do you have enough patience to teach your children at home? This is a teacher super power and one parents are often amazed by and appreciate in retrospect when taking on home schooling. Some kids are fast learners, others are not. All kids have tiny attention spans, so it’s hard to remain patient when a kiddo is constantly getting distracted from the lesson. 

You need to be able to sit there for a few hours a day and not lose your cool. If you can do this, you will be relatively well-equipped for homeschooling. But, if you have a tendency to be impatient, this might not be a good idea for you. 

Regardless of the above, taking your child out of school may still feel like a good idea because the school system isn’t built for them and their learning style. Or perhaps it just isn’t a viable move after all. Great alternatives include homeschool co-ops, where multiple families band together to take on teaching tasks, or hiring a tutor for certain topics, etc. Or if you’re feeling even more convinced that the current standardized school system isn’t right for your kids, it might be worth researching the concept of unschooling a bit, and seeing if it’s right for you.