Re: Home schooling…pros and cons?
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
(other than the spelling/grammar mistakes urghhh)
dude, you can do everything you are saying and more even with a happy school-going child, there are enough hours in a day, and weekends.