Reasons I started Homeschooling - 1

REASONS I STARTED HOMESCHOOLING - 1

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This is my first of a series of articles on Homeschooling and if you are reading this, it indicates that you are considering or have made a conscious decision to homeschool your child or children. However, the reasons you have or have made that decision, may be quite complex. As homeschooling is likely to have some impact on your lifestyle and will affect the child or children you teach and others around you.

It would be worth your while taking some time to clarify your reasons. You will then be better able to justify any changes to those affected, including yourself. Here is my primary reasons in deciding to homeschool my son.

I was watching my son taking his somewhat awkward, unsteady baby steps and I thought to myself, well it won't be long before he starts school. My thinking of education expanded and I started to think of my childhood experiences of education, what I read in the newspaper and heard on the television about high teacher to pupil ratios and how that affected not only my own academic ability and other skills and how I thought that my full potential had not been realized or utilized and that I did not want that happening to my son.

Later on that same day, with the sun shining and warmth outside, I took him out for a walk, securely strapped into his buggy. Going for a stroll in the fresh air, for some reason, always seemed to send him to sleep even though I would be constantly chatting to him and the thoughts again centred around education. I thought again about the high teacher to pupil ratio and that if teachers were locum parentus, then how many children could 1 parent effectively parent at the same time, if all the children were of the same age, so that all of the children received the same amount of attention? 5, 6, 7? So, how can 1 teacher effectively educate 15, 20+ children at the same time?

I reflected on my own teaching experience so far and the guilt that I felt at not being able to devote as much time on one-to-one basis with each individual child to encourage and stimulate their full potential and how more able children did not receive as much attention as those with lower abilities for whatever reason and I was determined that my son was not going to go through that. That walk, that day, with those thoughts, determined my course of action and planning to homeschool my child, but to what level?

Up to age 7, 11 or through to the age of 16 or even 18? I decided to teach him one level at a time, if he enjoyed it, had developed adequately on each area and stage, then I would continue homeschooling to the next level and then reassess.

I wanted my son to gain the knowledge that would help him fulfill his full potential and him to have the practical as well as theoretical knowledge not just in academic subjects but also in life-skills, the arts, music and physical well-being. I wanted to improve his quality of life generally and to prove to him that he could think and work individually, as well as part of a team and personally develop, gain skills and gain confidence and follow-up theoretical knowledge with practical applications in a fairly systematic way rather than through casual learning.

As you can see from above, my motives were not clear-cut and even quite complex. You may well find that you develop different reasons to homeschool your child or children, reasons that never struck you at the outset. However, you will see the benefits if you decide to homeschool for the right reasons.