By Lizette Balsdon
Fear of the unknown is one of the reasons why parents worldwide
make the choice to send their children off to school instead of opting
for homeschooling. Home education is treated as a new and strange
concept, when public schooling really is the new concept. In the old
days, homeschooling was the norm for pioneers ranging from Thomas Edison
to Mozart, Theodore Roosevelt, to C.S. Lewis and recent achievers such
as Tim Tebow and the Jonas Brothers.
It has become the norm for parents to leave the raising of their children to teachers, using a wide range of excuses as to why they would never consider homeschooling. While I have no problem with other people sending their children off to school, I would like that same courtesy and freedom of choice to apply to my family too.
In this article I will tell you why my husband and I homeschool our children. I will not talk about our lifestyle, religious, economic or political reasons (which are all significant), or the fact that I vowed never to be apart from my kids for a whole day, on the day they were born. No, this time I will stick to proven facts, provided by the media in our country, South Africa.
Before I do though, I'd like to point out that homeschooling is a big sacrifice, only to be done by parents who have their children's best interests at heart. With that in mind, you might want to educate yourself on how it works before coming to uninformed conclusions about kids watching television all day, or parents allowing cheating on tests.
Is homeschooling legal in SA?
Yes, it was legalized by the national education law in 1996, for the duration of the compulsory education ages of 7-15. Currently, it is estimated that around 80, 000 children in SA are homeschooled. Can so many people be wrong?
Where do you get a curriculum?
There are several major curriculum providers in SA, and numerous smaller ones. But there are even more approaches: classic, textbook, eclectic, unschooling, lap booking, living books, Charlotte Mason, online, tutoring, long distance... the list goes on. You can buy a curriculum at a book shop, or download free books from the Department of Education website. However, just because a curriculum is used in a school doesn't mean it's good - perhaps it's just cheap.
A good curriculum is one that caters to each student's individual learning style. Successful homeschoolers find a curriculum that suits their learning styles, or they build an eclectic curriculum using local and a myriad international curricula components. International curricula, especially from the USA and UK are compiled by native English speakers with years of experience, which results in professional grade, high-quality curricula.
If you think SA's standard of education is world class, consider the 2013 report by the World Economic Forum: "World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Information Technology Report 2013 ranks South Africa's Maths and Science education second last in the world, only ahead of Yemen." That is partly to blame on the inexperienced composers who create poor course ware. A recent article shows how Google Translate was used to translate a poorly written English Life Orientation book into Afrikaans. The books contain a multitude of spelling and grammar errors, direct translation and full stops in the middle of sentences.
I always refer to Oprah Winfrey's comment about SA's pass rates and unemployment rate: "It is also indicative of your standards here that you can pass with 30%. Businesspeople can't operate successfully if they function with only 30% to 40%."
Who marks your tests?
Parents who homeschool their children actually care more about their children's education, not less. That's why they set their own tests and use strict marking standards to ensure their children get the best education and meet curriculum outcomes. Homeschoolers are not trying to compete with other kids in the class; they just want to be the best they possibly can and that's why many homeschoolers enter university years ahead of their peers.
What about matric?
Homeschoolers have a range of options to acquire the matric qualification they need to enter university in a variety of countries. The only option not available is the International Baccalaureate which requires full time attendance at a recognised institution that offers that course - but then again, that's not available to the majority of SA kids that are in public school either.
Other options include the National Senior Certificate (NSC) or equivalent, IGCSE, CIE, GED and SATs. Does your local public school offer all these options?
What about university?
However, homeschoolers who complete internationally recognised matric qualifications, have access to international universities. A damning report by the Council on Higher Education (CHE) states that "Access, success and completion rates continue to be racially skewed, with white completion rates being on average 50% higher than African [black] rates." At the same time, close to 80% of admissions are granted to black and coloured students. Henry Ford said that we should surround ourselves with competent people and this figure shows me that my kids need to study abroad, should they choose to.
In Conclusion
Homeschooling is an organic form of education which has a positive effect on families and aims to teach children the importance of family values. This was proven by a recent American study. Surely improving family values will create a better world for everyone.
If the above reasons were not compelling enough, one should consider how conducive the current public and private school environment is to learning:
It has become the norm for parents to leave the raising of their children to teachers, using a wide range of excuses as to why they would never consider homeschooling. While I have no problem with other people sending their children off to school, I would like that same courtesy and freedom of choice to apply to my family too.
In this article I will tell you why my husband and I homeschool our children. I will not talk about our lifestyle, religious, economic or political reasons (which are all significant), or the fact that I vowed never to be apart from my kids for a whole day, on the day they were born. No, this time I will stick to proven facts, provided by the media in our country, South Africa.
Before I do though, I'd like to point out that homeschooling is a big sacrifice, only to be done by parents who have their children's best interests at heart. With that in mind, you might want to educate yourself on how it works before coming to uninformed conclusions about kids watching television all day, or parents allowing cheating on tests.
Is homeschooling legal in SA?
Yes, it was legalized by the national education law in 1996, for the duration of the compulsory education ages of 7-15. Currently, it is estimated that around 80, 000 children in SA are homeschooled. Can so many people be wrong?
Where do you get a curriculum?
There are several major curriculum providers in SA, and numerous smaller ones. But there are even more approaches: classic, textbook, eclectic, unschooling, lap booking, living books, Charlotte Mason, online, tutoring, long distance... the list goes on. You can buy a curriculum at a book shop, or download free books from the Department of Education website. However, just because a curriculum is used in a school doesn't mean it's good - perhaps it's just cheap.
A good curriculum is one that caters to each student's individual learning style. Successful homeschoolers find a curriculum that suits their learning styles, or they build an eclectic curriculum using local and a myriad international curricula components. International curricula, especially from the USA and UK are compiled by native English speakers with years of experience, which results in professional grade, high-quality curricula.
If you think SA's standard of education is world class, consider the 2013 report by the World Economic Forum: "World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Information Technology Report 2013 ranks South Africa's Maths and Science education second last in the world, only ahead of Yemen." That is partly to blame on the inexperienced composers who create poor course ware. A recent article shows how Google Translate was used to translate a poorly written English Life Orientation book into Afrikaans. The books contain a multitude of spelling and grammar errors, direct translation and full stops in the middle of sentences.
I always refer to Oprah Winfrey's comment about SA's pass rates and unemployment rate: "It is also indicative of your standards here that you can pass with 30%. Businesspeople can't operate successfully if they function with only 30% to 40%."
Who marks your tests?
Parents who homeschool their children actually care more about their children's education, not less. That's why they set their own tests and use strict marking standards to ensure their children get the best education and meet curriculum outcomes. Homeschoolers are not trying to compete with other kids in the class; they just want to be the best they possibly can and that's why many homeschoolers enter university years ahead of their peers.
What about matric?
Homeschoolers have a range of options to acquire the matric qualification they need to enter university in a variety of countries. The only option not available is the International Baccalaureate which requires full time attendance at a recognised institution that offers that course - but then again, that's not available to the majority of SA kids that are in public school either.
Other options include the National Senior Certificate (NSC) or equivalent, IGCSE, CIE, GED and SATs. Does your local public school offer all these options?
What about university?
However, homeschoolers who complete internationally recognised matric qualifications, have access to international universities. A damning report by the Council on Higher Education (CHE) states that "Access, success and completion rates continue to be racially skewed, with white completion rates being on average 50% higher than African [black] rates." At the same time, close to 80% of admissions are granted to black and coloured students. Henry Ford said that we should surround ourselves with competent people and this figure shows me that my kids need to study abroad, should they choose to.
In Conclusion
Homeschooling is an organic form of education which has a positive effect on families and aims to teach children the importance of family values. This was proven by a recent American study. Surely improving family values will create a better world for everyone.
If the above reasons were not compelling enough, one should consider how conducive the current public and private school environment is to learning:
- A 2012 report by the KZN department of education shows that in 2010 and 2011, 12 971 KZN schoolgirls were pregnant, ranging from Grade 1-12. I'd rather my kids learned about sex and pregnancy from me than from their peers.
- With the national acceptable average class size of 40, I can't be sure that my kids will receive the individual attention required to hone their skills and nurture their gifts.
- In the last two days, in two separate incidents, one learner attacked a teacher with a broomstick, chair and stones, while another shot a teacher in the leg.
Lizette is a homeschool mom of two who has proven that
homeschooling can work for any family. In addition to being the
principle of TwinStar Academy and professional
all-in-one-mom-chef-cleaning-lady and wife, she is also a professional
copywriter and owner of Content Cafe Copywriting Services in South
Africa
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