Little Bears Family homeschool
Reasons for Homeschooling
* Introduction *
* Academic * Personal, Social & Life-Skills * Spiritual *
More information about Government Funding
We returned to live in the UK in August 1998, when Tommy was just 2¾, after having been living in Sweden where, although nursery provision is widespread and most mothers go back to work full-time when their children are aged two or under, school proper does not start until age 7.
When we knew we would be coming home, we were concerned about the UK school system, since children have to by law "begin receiving an education", usually assumed to mean "start full-time formal school" at the age of 5 (and the pressure is growing for parents to place 3 and 4 year olds in nursery classes, and all pre-school groups wishing to receive Government funding for 3 & 4 year olds are obliged to follow the increasingly formal National Curriculum for pre-school: 'Desirable Learning Outcomes'. *(more info)
To us this seemed unnecessarily early, and we wanted our little boy to have a 'childhood'. When we first started thinking about 'homeschooling' (or 'home educating' as it is more commonly known in this country), we knew that many people were doing it in America, but we thought that we wouldn't be able to do it in the UK since we weren't qualified teachers. We have since discovered that this is by no means a requirement!
Nevertheless, we did bow to pressure and tried out a couple of pre-school playgroups, mainly because we felt that some extra social interaction couldn't do any harm(!). The first playgroup was frighteningly inadequate and I did not feel that I could trust the staff with my child. The second was totally opposite: a very good level of care, a sensitive and experienced supervisor with a wonderfully exciting programme of play; however, the group was committed to implementing the DLO's which involved early literacy, and the staff [under the direction, not of the supervisior - who was actually sympathetic to our concerns - but of a governing body of parents*] unfortunately translated this as effectively forcing the children to read and write, albeit only simple things (like their names).
Alarm bells immediately rang for me, and since I was advised that our son would be involved in "the literacy programme" at least once a week, we reluctantly withdrew him. We felt that forcing a child to write before he is ready (or, indeed, at any time) could do nothing but discourage him from wanting to learn. We could of course have tried a third or subsequent playgroup, but we concluded that it would be too unsettling for our son and we were unlikely to find exactly what we were looking for.
* Note: It is interesting to note from my research and everyday contact with other parents and professional educators, that teachers and those involved with education are far more likely to be seriously questioning the way things are going in State education, particularly with regard to the National Curriculum, and are often sympathetic to the concept of home education; whereas on the whole, parents (especially those with high goals for their children) are more likely to have bought into the idea of "the earlier the better" and will increasingly push for formal education! It's hard to tell whether Government pressure or public opinion started this snow-ball rolling, but there we have it: whoever started it, it's going downhill!
We started out thinking that we were taking a desperate "crack-pot" measure as a reaction against what we saw as a flawed system. However, we have since read and researched and come to the conclusion that homeschooling can be the best form of education, and our reasons for wanting to do it have become for its own merits:-
* Academic * Personal, Social & Life-Skills * Spiritual *
Research shows that one-to-one tutoring is the most successful method of learning, with the average homeschooled child being two years ahead of schooled children; indeed, some research indicating that this is the case even where the ‘tutor’ has had a poor level of education him/herself, indicating that a child’s capacity to learn may be innate, and this learning ability thrives best on a one-to-one or one-to-few basis. This being the case, we would have grave concerns about placing our child in any State school, especially in Milton Keynes where class numbers are currently reported to be around 47 children to one teacher!
With homeschooling, it is possible to create a personal, individual curriculum, tailored to the child rather than tailor the child to meet a ‘national curriculum’ and also, it is possible to tailor the method of teaching to the needs of the child / family, and we believe that the best way to learn is in an informal, relaxed way, involving lots of play and at the child’s own pace, keeping the flame of interest alive rather than extinguishing it by enforced teaching at the teacher’s pace.
"Education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire"
With homeschooling, the child can have a say in all decisions which affect him/ her, and on a one-to-one basis, the child’s voice can be heard (and he is more likely to speak), including questions, stimulating discussion and in turn, thought!
The Social aspect of homeschooling is one of the primary concerns of parents who are considering this as an option, not to mention one of the least understood areas. Won't our children miss out? The answer, surprisingly perhaps , is in fact a definitive no - not necessarily. There are literally thousands of families educating their children at home in this country, and most are connected through support group networks.
But if that doesn't convince you, just stop for a moment to consider what kind of social contacts your children would actually be getting at school - are they in fact desirable, healthy or profitable for your children? Will socialising exclusively with a group of 30 or more children of the same age really be teaching your children the social skills necessary to survive in "the real world"? In what other situation in life do we find ourselves segregated only with our own age-group?
Homeschooling offers the parents the opportunity to carefully select ‘suitable’ company for the child, including all ages rather than just peers, thereby hopefully eliminating "peer pressure" (which can exasperate problems with discipline) and "peer dependency" and alienation from parents and other adults, (not to mention siblings) and also avoiding potential problems such as bullying (at least until the child is older, bigger and confident enough to know how to deal with it) low self-esteem and fear of failure etc.
Homeschooling can build a strong family (this, and not school, is society's most fundamental social unit) with common values and goals and philosophy [for example, without peer-pressure to worry about, it is possible to discourage a materialist, ‘me-first’ philosophy], including a learning lifestyle for the whole family, taking the opportunity for extra contact with and learning from extended family members. The 'generation gap' is in fact a new phenomenon, exasperated by the institution of 'schools': in years gone by, one generation would overlap the next, "dove-tailing" and learning from each other. Think of all the valuable knowledge, crafts and skills that have been all but lost through children being removed from this great source of learning!
In addition, homeschooling can be an opportunity to forge strong links within the community, encouraging wholesome activities such as voluntary work and valuable life-skills which are not generally taught in schools (see our long-term overall goals for homeschooling in "Objectives"), and since with homeschooling we are not tied to live in the same place all year round, we have the opportunity to meet and learn from all manner of people, cultures and so on.
Martin Luther warned that, if Christ was taken out of education, schools would become the very gates of Hell! And yet, many Christians are blinded to the fact that this is the very thing which has taken place in British schools today.
Religious Education, although still very much a legal requirement, is not included in the national curriculum, but rather deferred to local education authorities to agree at a local level. In many cases, schools are actually breaking the law by not teaching religious education of any sort, or by not having a daily "mostly Christian" religious assembly which is also still a legal requirement; where this does take place of course, it is not exclusively Christian, and teachers are forb