Perceptions of Home Education

What is your mental image when you learn that a child or teenager is educated at home rather than at school? Do you imagine someone geeky, who is awkward and self-conscious in social settings? Or perhaps you think of a child prodigy, a genius in some areas, but not necessarily well-rounded. The classical composer Mozart was educated at home, for instance; so, more recently, were the tennis-playing Williams sisters. Or maybe you’ve read about families living ‘off the grid’, growing all their own produce, generating their own electricity, avoiding public life and educating their children through daily chores and activities.

Unfortunately, the media tends to focus on extreme lifestyles. While there are home educated families in all these categories, the majority are ordinary people who have decided to take full responsibility for their children’s education, rather than delegating part of it to schools. There are many reasons why families might make this decision. For some it’s a reaction against problems in schools: bullying, peer pressure, or difficulties with academics. But for the majority, home education is a lifestyle choice. Until a couple of hundred years ago it was the normal way in which most children were educated, after all, and it allows for far greater flexibility in the family’s schedule.

Research in several countries has shown that home educated children tend to excel academically, and in other areas too. While most are unlikely to become Wimbledon champions, home education allows for more focus on sports, or music, or art, or wherever the child’s passions lie. Home educated children, on the whole, bear little resemblance to the anti-social stereotype portrayed by the media. Indeed, most of them to take part in more general activities than those who are in school, because they have so much more time to do so.

As for academics: yes, it’s important that children learn to read and write, to study mathematics, and to develop a broad understanding of the sciences and humanities. But it doesn’t take a trained teacher to impart this knowledge. If you completed a high school education, or equivalent, you can easily introduce your children to anything that would normally be covered in the primary years. Modern technology and easy access to information allows for self-led learning where relevant. With the help of suitable textbooks or online resources, parents can enable teenagers to learn what they need to learn in the secondary years too.


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