Home schooling....pros and cons?

[Peppermint]

Re: Home schooling…pros and cons?

@psyah

Peace Sister Peppermint

My wife had been thinking about schooling options ever since our eldest was born. She wants the best for our children (as all parents do), but being a bit of a non-conformist she decided to learn as much about learning as she could to actively make an informed decision, much like what you doing now. She had come across various people speaking about home education, people who she admires and respects and has appointed as guides for her life … she is also very good at listening and she forms opinions with her heart after listening and debating issues in her own mind first.

School for my wife was a bitter experience and she loved to stay at home - I was a very different kind of child in school - I was the typical goody goody two shoes. I had not considered home education, but the rebel in me appealed to the idea and I had some functional knowledge about it beforehand … but I resigned it to be the sort of thing that “hippies” do … I did find in school that those who had varied upbringings to my own could offer a lot more knowledge and richness in to the classroom and I secretly envied them, but I befriended them too.

So driven by the desire of my wife to protect her children from all grief from other children and strange adults and with her empowerment of notable people all supporting the idea she approached me and asked me about it. It took me about 2 minutes to decide and I said … “okay, let’s do it” … but she wanted it to be me … I however stressed that most of it would have to be her and that put her off slightly, but she has been doing great and it has been over 7 years now …

The biggest drawback is the social life of the parents … there are no drawbacks that I can see for the children. There are three types of people in this world, some are dabblers, some are hackers and some are masters … home education is not for dabblers or hackers - it needs to be done full on - and the level of commitment may impinge on the social life of the main home educator and the children will drive you crazy, but you have to behave constantly in teacher mode …

Our main incentive for home education is to raise human souls with a desire to learn and a reverence and compassion for knowledge and most importantly to be able to use that knowledge to inculcate noble character in themselves. These are alien concepts for the schooling system of today, which concentrates on results and examination.

Education is everything that is left behind after you have forgotten everything you learnt in school …

That means if you learnt anything of any value in school it would have become part of your character and person and although you don’t remember how you know something, you do … because it is a part of you. This in the fast paced schooling environment is not achieved and much of the material crammed for exams is soon forgotten and no change in attitude or behaviour nor improvement of moral substance results … these for me are the real results that we need in our children … to be successful - that comes from Allah (SWT) … no amount of education will give us more money - rather the pattern is that the grander the education the more it costs.

Which comes to another key benefit … home education will cost more than conventional state schooling in the UK, but for the material that is covered, which may only be available in bespoke schools - you can shape your syllabus to be equaling that of the elite with may be about 1/8th of the cost.

More to come inshaAllah … comments and more questions are welcome

MashaAllah Psyah and Hareem! Both of you are wonderful parents!
May Allah bless you and your children with tons of happiness and success throughout their lives Ameen…

School wasnt a good experience for me either…we have to limit our thoughts ideas and wont be able to think besides school works and homeworks and test assessments etc…i used to be always occupied with schoolwork for more than hour or two enen after spending more than 6hrs at school…

I wanted some freedom from school…and ofcourse in class setup its more like a race than competition…who will take first position thos time…why you took 3rd position?.. why took A grade you have to work hard from now on to take A+…I dont want my son to become a good tudent I would be fine if he takes B grade…
I just want him to ENJOY learning…and want him to learn whatever he wants without any set boundaries…

Other thing is raiaing good.human beings.is.not a teachers.job…and I.dont think keeping children silent in classroom will make them a wonderful polite and well mannered human being…IMO
I know many people will not agree to me…
Plus a teacher has to handle more than say 15 minds at a time…and not all children are same…she has to ask them to think or learn whatever she wants to teach them…whether a student is interested or not…I dont want my kid to limit his thoughts n process of learning…

These were some of the reasons I that I became interested in HSing…

So my goal is same like your(almost)…to educate him by learning and not by getting higher grades…