Homeschooling: The New Age Learning Tool

Homeschooling is an alternative option for education. There’re a lot of reasons for this. One is since their children get the customized education that the parents want them to.

The concept

The education is geared around the child and will work towards their strengths and help them with their weaknesses. The parents get to spend a lot of time at home with their children, so while the children are being educated they are also bonding with their children. The gifted children get to work as fast as they can, while the children who’re struggling get to spend all the time they need to stay caught up.

When it comes down to regular school versus homeschooling, a lot of the decision comes down to what will work best for you and your children. Not all children will work well with homeschool, and not all parents are cut out for homeschooling.

Homeschooling is an educational technique and philosophy that supports learner-chosen activities as a chief means for learning. Homeschooled students learn through their natural life experiences including play, domestic responsibilities, personal interests and curiosity, placements and work experience, travel, books, elective classes, family, guides, and social interaction.

The essence

It encourages exploration of activities initiated by the children themselves, believing that the more personal learning is, the more meaningful, well-understood, and therefore useful it’s to the child. While courses may occasionally be taken, homeschooling questions the usefulness of standard curricula, conventional grading methods, and other features of traditional schooling in maximizing the education of each unique child.

While homeschooling has been topic to extensive public debate, tiny media attention has been given to homeschooling in specific. Critics of homeschooling see it as an extreme educational philosophy, with worries that homeschooled children will lack the social skills, structure, and incentive of their peers, while advocates of homeschooling say exactly the opposite is true — self-directed education in a natural environment better equips a child to deal the real world.

Although there’re cases where both working parents also opt for homeschooling, At least one parent has to give full time for homeschooling. It’s NOT an easy task!

The philosophy

Traditional home-schooling generally involves children following the same structured curriculum taught in schools, but from the comfort of their own homes, and at their own pace.

• Children are natural learners: A fundamental premise of homeschooling is that curiosity is innate and that children want to learn. From this, an argument can be made that institutionalizing children in a so-called factory model school is an inefficient use of the children’s time because it requires each child to learn a specific subject matter in a particular manner, at a particular pace, and at a specific time regardless of that individual’s present or future needs, interests, goals, or any pre-existing knowledge he or she might have about the topic.
• Learning styles: Homeschoolers note that psychologists have documented many differences between children in the way they learn, and assert that homeschooling is better equipped to adapt to these differences. People vary in their learning styles, that is, how they acquire new information. Students have different learning needs. In a traditional school setting, teachers seldom evaluate an individual student differently from other students. While teachers often use different methods, this is sometimes haphazard and not always about an individual student.
• Developmental differences: Developmental psychologists note that just as children reach growth milestones at different ages from each other, children are also prepared to learn different things at different ages. Traditional education requires all children to begin reading at the same time and do multiplication at the same time; they believe that some children cannot help but be bored because this was something that they had been ready to learn earlier, and even worse, some children cannot help but fail, because they are not yet ready for this new information being taught.
• The role of parents: Parents of homeschoolers provide resources, support, guidance, information, and advice to facilitate experiences that aid their children in accessing, navigating, and making sense of the world common parental activities include sharing interesting books, articles, and activities with their children, helping them find knowledgeable people to explore an interest with and helping them set goals and figure out what they need to do to meet their goals.
• Socialization: Concerns about socialization are often a factor in the decision to homeschool. Many homeschoolers believe that the conditions common in conventional schools, like age segregation, a low ratio of adults to children, a lack of contact with the community, a lack of people in professions other than teachers or school administration, an emphasis on the smarter children, shaming of the failing children, and an emphasis on sitting, create an unhealthy social environment.

Debunking the myths

Many people don’t realize that homeschooling can be positive and effective way to educate your children.

Even though homeschooling is more popular than you would think, myths and misunderstandings about it persist. Let’s clear out some of the most common myths about homeschooling so you can make the best decision for your child and your family.

• It’s a new concept: In India, in the early 20th century, certain educational theorists have discussed and implemented radically different forms of education. Visva-Bharati University, Sri Aurobindo International Center of Education, and Mahatma Gandhi’s ideal of basic education are prime examples.
• Is homeschooling legal? Yes, it’s legal to have homeschooling in India. Now in the present world, the new update of this is termed into ONLINE EDUCATION for every standard of education there’re several e-learning websites in Indian where students can be educated online. Most of the parents are preferring online education through e-learning portals.
• Homeschooled children can’t socialize: This is perhaps the most prevalent myth, and the most incorrect. Socialization is about much more than just interacting with other children in the same age group. Instead of a child being stuck in a classroom with the same lot of students every day, a child who’s homeschooled gets to socialize with family, parents, neighbors, friends, and members of the community. The social skills that a child learns from being homeschooled are often more beneficial and healthy than what many children get from a traditional school environment.
• Parents aren’t qualified to teach: Parents are the most important teachers in a child’s life, and they always have been. Parents are the ones who taught their child how to walk, talk, and eat, and are the first example that children look to when learning how to function in society. In many ways, parents are the most qualified people to teach their children because trust and support have already been established. Not only that but also parents today have more resources than ever.
• Homeschooled children don’t get a certificate: The idea of homeschooling is that a child can study from home and directly appear on the 10th or 12th board examination. In India, NIOS is a board of education under the government that provides a regular A child can directly give examination as per CBSE and ISCE board. It’s nothing new and this has been around since 1979; under the MHRD. You can check out similar initiatives in your own country. Homeschooled children can also pass high school and graduation by this new-age learning tool. There’re lot of good options available for online education from top universities in the world. Once you get the result from NIOS, you can join a regular college. Each country has a different scope of homeschooling in their country.
• If you’re homeschooled, you can’t get into college: In fact, homeschoolers have a higher rate of attending college than any other group of children. Many colleges seek out homeschooled children and accept them at a high rate. These schools recognize the unique qualities and skills that such children often possess, such as being self-motivated and self-disciplined. Also, many students who study at home with an online school have been accepted by excellent colleges and universities and tell us they learned how to be responsible for their education and how to manage their time from their online school.
• Homeschooled children can’t function in the real world: A big misconception about homeschooled children is that they sit at home all day and never get the opportunity to leave the house. In reality, homeschooled students get more time outside and learn more about their surroundings when they’re learning from home. When other children are cooped up in a single room all day, homeschool children are out and about, interacting with their community. Because they have a more flexible schedule, they may also have more opportunities to volunteer at local shelters or nursing homes or to get involved in community activities. They also the ability to participate in and travel for team sports without missing schoolwork.
• Very few people homeschool their children: Millions of children are homeschooled every day in the world. Parents are finding that homeschooling puts their children’s needs and goals at the center of their education.
• Homeschooled children don’t learn as well: A homeschool program is extremely specific when it comes to how an individual child learns. Every child is different, and how each understands and absorbs new information is unique. Homeschooling provides a customizable way of teaching and learning for the child, which can help them learn at a faster rate than other public school children. It also means that your homeschooled child’s experience isn’t about what is best for all; it’s about what is best for your specific child.
• Extracurricular activities are unavailable: Homeschooling frees up more time for a child to be involved and active in the community. There’s no waiting for the whole class to settle down. Fewer distractions and no classroom disciplinary issues mean that students can focus better and move ahead when they’re ready. Instead of having typical school hours holding them back, homeschooled children will have extra time to play, relax, work on homework, learn new skills and hobbies, and participate in extracurricular activities later in the day with their friends.
• Families who homeschool their children are all alike: A household that prefers to homeschool their child one way may approach things completely different from the family down the street who also homeschools. Just like any family, each homeschool family is unique. Homeschool families come in all shapes and sizes, including homes where both parents work, parents with a single child, parents with many children, homes where not all children are homeschooled, and homes from all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. Although their reasons for choosing to educate their children at home differ, these families share one thing in common — they want what is best for their children.
• The child needs a lot of private tuition for different subjects: This is true to an extent but you don’t need an actual tutor. With the growth of technology, e-learning is an extremely good tool to take online classes. In India, there are many tools like Byju’s, Robomate Plus, Toppr, Takshila, Meritnation that offer simple, not so costly, and page by page e-learning videos that are easy to understand.

Homeschooling in India

In the past, homeschooling in India has been regulated solely at the state level, and homeschoolers have largely been left alone. But times are changing rapidly. Here are some resources you might need as a parent:

• स्वशिक्षण—Indian Association of Homeschoolers is a non-profit initiative of homeschooling children, parents, guardians and friends. The members of this association include homeschoolers residing in India, irrespective of nationality and homeschoolers of Indian origin, irrespective of location.
• Swaraj University is India’s first university dedicated to regenerating local cultures, local economies, and local ecologies.
• Alternative Education is an online resource that provides a list of alternative schools in India.

Over the years, we have occasionally questioned our decision to homeschool, but those doubts have more to do with my time and energy than any of these myths. It’s human psychology to disregard anything new, we can’t understand or have half-knowledge of.

Conclusion

It’s all in the mind!

The non-doers will have thousands of reasons not to do it and will also demotivate others to do it. The doers will just go ahead and do it. They’re humans who have made or changed history, they’re leaders and rest are followers.

All in all, homeschooling has given some families the freedom and flexibility to explore and learn about the world in creative, interesting ways. If you have more doubts, you can always contact me personally for a detailed discussion.