A convert to homeschooling explains why he eventually chose this educational path for his children, musing on the variety of resources and the dedication required of homeschooling parents.
2022 marks my 9th year as a home-school dad, as well as my family’s 12th year as homeschoolers.
Not bad for a dad who was against the idea of us ever home-schooling.
A Fresh Concept
In the beginning, I was never anti-home-school. I was of the mindset: I don’t think it is “kosher” to home-school.
For me, the idea was nuts. We are conditioned to believe there is a certain way some things should be done. Parents educating their kids at home isn’t one of them.
This hesitancy lasted three years, until doubts about the education system eroded my resistance.
Two of our children attended school for a couple of years before I was finally persuaded to give home education a trial run.
Squashed by the System
The biggest persuader was watching the spark in them slowly dissolve into cold embers. It was as though we were sending them into combat; abandoning them to live out a reality remake of Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies.’
The playground politics, schoolyard social structures; the hell of living in an episode of Survivor, on an infinite loop.
Among other examples, I’ve never forgotten how one teacher thought my young daughter’s “Will someone please play with me today?” simple, written protest, which she had stuck to her desk, was “cute,” not a cry for help.
This first persuader was backed by an even bigger second: careful discussion, coupled with prayer, and a ton of research.
12 years later, I haven’t regretted the decision.
Individual Needs
Before deciding on whether or not to home-school, parents should ask themselves what this commitment will mean for their particular context.
Home education is not distance education. There is no funding. There is no one-eyed curriculum. There are no teachers. There is only mum, dad, and sometimes extended family.
Additionally, most governments are not supportive of home-schooling. Some even outlaw it. States also have different laws regarding who can, and who cannot, educate from home.
In New South Wales, home-schooling parents can choose to either reject or register with NESA (the NSW Education Standards Board) — the state regulatory body overseeing education.
When we began home-schooling, we opted to register for the transparency NESA offers, as well as the accreditation it provides. NESA also acts as a guide for age-appropriate education targets, in line with Australian curriculum standards.
This is where the role of government ends.
Various Resources
Home-schooling is solely an independent, customisable, parent-controlled education option. Parents and their kids can set and source all the curriculum.
For example, my kids favour the American Abeka comprehension and grammar system.
This is set alongside the Australian curriculum requirements for English such as text types, HSIE, HASS, Australian based Connections Maths, Science, and a printable science literacy program.
There are also the extra-curriculum cross-over subjects, such as First form (Christian) Latin, common (Biblical) Greek, woodwork, music, civics and theology.
Options are only limited by availability, imagination, effort, time, and budget.
The curriculum will determine success or failure; joy or misery. There have been resources I regret using, and others I regret not using earlier.
Two successful Year 12 graduates, with one on the way, and two more behind them, have taught me that a good curriculum resource will almost teach itself.
Parents are Primary Educators
Between schooling and home-schooling parents, there is no “us vs. them.”
In many respects, all good parents home-school to differing degrees.
It is the right of parents to be engaged and included in what their children are taught. How their children are taught, and who teaches them.
With this right slowly being erased by daddy government, there has never been more of an urgency for parents to rediscover their role in the education of their young.
I am a home-school convert. Along the way, I’ve learned to value this educational pathway, appreciate the caveats, and cherish the raw pioneering attitude attached.
To repurpose a cheesy quote from Kevin James in ‘Mall Cop II’: I never chose home-schooling, home-schooling chose me.
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About the Author: Rod Lampard
