“What does an average day of Home School consist off?”
And
“I would worry about them socialising if I home Schooled”
These are really valid questions and although I still
completely agree that it is a personal choice for every family to consider, if
they did actually consider it, I do believe that I have tried to answer these
questions to my best ability.
So what now?
Well I did promise that I would write a post about the
different styles and types of Home School that families may consider. However,
I had started writing it when I got to the style ‘Unschooling’ and it dawned on
me that I should really discuss the importance of Unschooling your child before
I suggest it as teaching/Parenting style.
Unschooling
Unschooling is exactly what it says on the tin! Everything that
you would consider as ‘schooled’ needs to be ignored (Well slightly)
‘Schooled’ is the concept that teaching a child to be
regimented into a routine filled with structure, guidance and an adult led
education. The adults therefore present the work to the child and the child
learns from that point.
Where with unschooling you have the idea of an ‘Open
Classrooms’ where life has enough lessons and interests to allow the child to
learn. In principle from then the adults are there to be the facilitators of
life allowing the child/ren to experience as much as possible.
Unschooling students are, potentially, learning through
their life experiences including play, responsibilities, interests and,
ultimately, their curiosity. It then encourages exploration of activities
initiated by the children themselves, believing that the more personal learning,
the more meaningful, well-understood and, therefore, useful it is to the child.
Like in a lot or parenting choices we see that unschooling
as a child-led activity.
This in principle, I believe, is pretty much what a lot of
us do as parents; we offer guidance in life but we try, where possible, to encourage
and support their choices. (As long as we believe and can see the best within
it)
So why is this important to do this before we look at the
styles of Home Schooling?
This really comes down to the age of your child and if they
have been schooled previously.
From the age of 3 most Nurseries will promote certain
schooled activities, such as: Sitting and Writing letters, Numbers and the Childs
name. All of which is a schooled formalised style. (Sitting on a chair at a
desk/table) This style progresses forwards to make, where possible, the child ‘ready’
to join preschool/Reception.
So we then get to the point where the child, for whatever
reason, now needs to be Home Schooled. Whatever the reason may be it is
important to realise that the association within a ‘schooled’ style will affect
the way you teach them.
For example:
1: If your child was emotional distressed throughout the
school experience then it is reasonable to believe that you creating a schooled
and formulated system might not encourage the child to learn. They may have
found socialising difficult or was bullied yet it has always been clear that a
certain amount of emotional response is attached to what they perceive as
school.
2: The same applies to a child who struggled with the work
load or level of work that was expected; if, as parents, we then add to that
concept and start to suggest that is what school is about we might as well just
send them back to school rather than teach from home.
In both situations we are allowing the child to look at any
form of education as black and white, good and bad and never really helping
them the way we should and subsequently creating a barrier to education.
Now I know I did a post previously on Childism and how at an
extreme, in my views, can be detrimental but when it comes to education for a
brief period at least (if this is your choice) child led activities is
key. The best way to help a child learn
is to let him have the reins; they will naturally know what is of most interest
to them at every moment and will make that clear to you.
Ultimately you are looking at trusting your child to know
when they are ready and eager to learn; the realisation and enjoyment should
become evident through their activities. Ideally through doing this you are
starting the basis of your child learning to learn rather than just absorbing
what they are told.
The amount of time spent on unschooling then comes down to
the parent’s judgement on their Childs ability to absorb and learn or if you
see the benefits of it as a teaching style to then continue it.
Either way, through style or just to allow education and
learning to be fun again I do believe that there is a place for unschooling
before you decide to then look into what style of teaching best suits you as a
family.
2 comments:
This was really interesting thanks for writing this post Martyn :)
Thanks Hannah. I'm trying to answer a lot of the FAQ. It's interesting anyway to show a glimpse into it.
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