There's been a few discussions on groups in the last couple of weeks about what 'type' of Home Educator you are...unschooler, radical unschooler, structured, autonomous etc, etc, etc. I never knew there were so many names for what we are doing, personally I haven't got a clue what we are and don't really care!!
We've been 'home educating' (for want of a better term!) for about six years now and I guess we've mainly got past worrying what other people think or feel about our choice. We don't follow a curriculum, we don't 'do school' at home, we don't tend to do a lot of written work although occasionally one of the many workbooks we have on the shelf gets dusted off and worked on, we don't do exams......yet we still have two very bright, intelligent children who are capable of reading well above their age, happily socialise with other adults and children, can workout intricate computer games and build incredible Lego models (which is a skill all of it's own!!) Go figure!!!...........
Eilidh has taught herself how to do joined up writing because she wanted to rather than having to, Ben just doesn't write but would probably be able to get us all out of an emergency situation if the need ever arose (Bear Grylls is the best!!) and can spout out facts about animals and history I never knew, as well as knowing all the characters of Star Wars!! They can work out slices of cake fairly, figure out how much money they'll have left after buying that must have Lego set and are far too good at bargaining money for doing chores!! They pooh, pooh silly science experiments with rolled eyes and 'we know that Mum..' and look bored when we get our 'you need to know this' hats on because most of the time they already do, just from living and being able to explore the world without the constraints of having to do something in a certain time, in a certain way.
They're not angels either but this is just so you know where we are..... we just go with the flow. I have to admit to baulk at the idea of being truly 'autonomous' in every aspect of our lives as I've seen a few children whose families pretty much allow everything and it has most definitely put me off!! So we're sort of in a halfway house, not completely autonomous but also a long way from structured ....at the moment.......
We have two happy, healthy, intelligent children who are learning all the time and teaching us much of the time, they may be behind their school friends in some areas and way ahead in others, it doesn't matter because they will achieve what they want to achieve when they're ready....not when others say they should be.
So that's our 'Home Education' story, every child and family is different and there are many, many ways of doing it and it can change from day to day............But we definitely 'Don't do school' ...........(at the moment!)
4 comments:
*nods*... yep ;-)
We don't do labels, or boxes, (or school!) either, we do what works for us and that changes and evolves all the time pretty organically mostly as Chi has changes and grows - I think labels, or aspiring to fit some sort of 'style' would have restricted that x
I do do school - I feel that developing social skills away from parents is important as is competitiveness, diversity , time constraints and routine , I believe we need to develop a society of potential workers because we do live in the modern highly competitive world. We all differ in our views this is just mine and I'm proud to disagree and after all I'm your big sis do I can and I love this workaholic world xxx :-)
We do all differ in our views, I'm beginning to realise recently just how much, even within Home Educating circles. For the most part you're quite right, we do have to equip our kids for the big bad world. From all the older and grown up Home Educated kids we know, I can't think of one that is not working, most are following their dreams and doing very well in that highly competitive world as I hope ours will too.
I do both. I have one child at home and one in school. I think it would be dangerous to assume that schools prepare children for the modern world when for the most part they belong to a different age. It is important that children develop social skills but they do this with every contact, it's not something which is exclusive to schools. Children should not be forced to do it at 4, but when they are ready. I don't subscribe to the view that home educated children never leave their parents' side either because I know it to be a falsehood, but if I were asked if I'd prefer my children to be socialised within our family or by their same age peers, that's a no brainer for me. Socialising is obviously very different from the process of socialisation and my son is free to choose friends of any age because out of the classroom environment, it really doesn't matter. My friends are all different ages, why shouldn't his be? Having children both at home and school I can say hand on heart that there is nothing that my schooled child is getting that my home educated one isn't (unless you count the bad things like bullying and peer pressure) but she's missing out on a whole lot by spending her childhood in an institution designed to churn out a compliant workforce. I'd rather not have to use schools at all, as I think the real world is a far better teacher.
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