I've been reading about John Holt, one of the pioneers of home schooling. It got me thinking about this concept of letting the children learn at their own time and at their own interest at home with the help of available resources like books and internet and without having them go through a strict educational systems normally found in schools.
What I'd like to know are your thoughts, parents, non parents, teachers, non teachers alike, of this educational method...is it a good idea? Will it really achieve it's goal by letting children decide on what they want to educate themselves based on their interest alone?
10 comments:
Schooling might not be just learning from books only. It is important for kids to know how to blend in with other kids. If you talk about Maldives, already most parents have to work hard with homework, etc.
My view is sending kids to school is important even if you decide to teach that at home.
Perhaps homeschooling is the best when we have to deal with backward, repressive schooling systems we have here. Of course, there'll be a bit of arm-twisting and discreet string-pulling when it comes to procuring certain documents needed to "work" in this broken society.
the anonymous above is somewhat my thought too. school isn't only for learning from books. it also teaches of how a community works. there are few parents who home school their children till they reach 6-7 years. According to my mother, a pre school teacher says that they have low social behavior and doesn't know how to react to even the smallest incidence while mingling with the other children. they are also very slow in trusting and interacting with others. this was based on her observation on children who are home schooled till age of 6 and then brought to school for UKG so that they could get easy entrance to grade school.
With all the rumours of bullying, drugs and underage sex in schools home schooling seems like a welcome idea! However as with anything I dont belive there is a clear cut answer to which system is better.
Lack of opportunities for acquiring social skills aside, children after going through a home school system would still have to incorporate themselves into the mainstream, where they would have to compete with children who would've all gone through the formal system.
So, even if a home schooling system is followed there needs to be a formal system to monitor and quality control what the children is learning so that they are not worse off when it comes to opportunities, compared to the other kids by not meeting certain standards or qualifications.
Children will also choose to learn diverse subjects if the environment is conducive. There's also the danger that parents might infuse their beliefs into what the children are learning and give them selective information. This wud again disadvantage them in the future.
@XResistance good golly gosh! i just discovered your blog O.O
but anyway really really appreciate your input
@Penny
hehe We're taking "good golly gosh" as a good reaction! Even if its not, we are deciding your reaction for you. Because thats what we do. yes.
Oh and you're welcome
i guess upto some age they must be shown the way and get them familiar with stuff and then let them decide their own destiny...
I think that you can get a decent education through homeschooling and it defintately works for some people, but generally I'm against it.
There are things you learn at school that you could honestly learn no where else. Probably most important is social skills and learning to work under people who might not be the nicest or the smartest.
sending your kid to school is important if you have pervs for teachers and if other kids are fluent in arabic and foul language.
just came across this and i hope i am not late to add my opinion on this topic.
For me, it might me somehow helpful, but it obviously denies a child a chance to socialize with the rest of the society which will be crucial in their future life.
When a child makes a new friend, that an achievement, when he/she comes across maybe a bully kid in school, they learns how to handle challenges, after all those petty thing are the ones that we learns from.
Jumuga.
http://mylife-is-mylove.blogspot.com/
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