Introduction:
In
previous articles it is clearly discussed that homeschooling is about
educational settings outside the formal school settings with unprescribed
formalities. However, any homeschooling aspirants should have their own
formalities with the optional curriculum as discussed in previous articles. The
implementation of homeschooling with different distinct philosophical
perspectives merely based on how the homeschoolers can afford to invest in the
creation of own environment. Because the affordable and adjustable environment
matters a lot in terms of propagating education.
It is also to be in mind that
there is a contradiction when we talk about homeschooling in their own
environment settings as there lies a tremendous challenge in the society, the
challenges of technical, and socio-economic
conditions. In fact, these challenges could be distinguished from the context
of privileged and underprivileged societies.
However,
there could be some possibilities to initiate the homeschooling, based on
their contextual challenges which must be flexibility based affordability. This
short write up tries to summarize the importance, methods and challenges of
homeschooling as discussed in the previous 10 articles.
The
following points have been highlighted in previous articles:
1. Context of homeschooling:
The context in which the children live is also very important. Sometimes there
are parents who do not understand and realize the value of homeschooling, they
might engage in homeschooling just because the child’s school is wanting to. In
these cases, the children get engaged in homeschooling but parents do not
realize that they are homeschooling their children, and what its benefits are.
Through our articles, we have discussed kinds of parents we have, and what challenges do parents have in homeschooling.
2. The advantage of the focus on the individual child: Parents take care of their own child in homeschooling. As for
their schedules, there are no institutional pressures and targets. When we are
into Guided homeschooling, we might get some time-framed targets to meet.
Whereas in general, the homeschooling parents do not have targets and
timelines from schools. The parent can observe and focus on their children for
better development, learning and growth. It’s like an IEP, i.e. ‘Individualized
education plan’.
3.
Methods of homeschooling: When we talk about homeschooling,
it is also to be stressed on philosophical perspectives, it is about the
beliefs of knowledge and approaches of education how the aspirants of homeschooling go about it. In the previous articles varieties of Methods of homeschooling have been mentioned, and in that list, few methods have been discussed
in detail in successive articles. Some of the methods were, Classical method, Charlotte Mason method, The Montessori method, Unschooling method, School at –home, Unit studies and
Eclectic Education method. Few articles are covered in brief such as
Classical, Charlotte Mason and Montessori
Methods.
4. Advantage of homeschooling vs. Education Board: Unlike the formal schooling the homeschooling has its distinct
benefits. The formal educational setting has to be controlled by its board
where the hierarchical structure of administration and monitoring happened.
But, such prescribed curriculum with formalities of administration is not
necessary for the context of homeschooling as homeschooling runs based on
parents choices. So, homeschooling has an immense privilege to provide the
children with their choices of educational activities. In some countries, such as France,
the United Kingdom, Austria, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Ireland homeschooling is widely
accepted as an appropriate alternative to state or private schools.
5. Issues and Challenges of
homeschooling: The homeschooling also has tremendous issues and challenges
as we have already discussed in previous articles. If we talk about issues and
challenges of home school we must not forget about the comparison between the
context of both privileged and underprivileged society. The underprivileged
society does not possess sufficient technical capacities and tools in order to initiate
the homeschooling, they lack few competencies resulting poor approaches in
terms of curriculum transactions.
The last series of 10 articles carries numerous homeschooling
perspectives and its approaches. Moreover, it carries numerous context-related
issues and challenges which would be very good insights for those new to homeschooling. My personal reflection based on this ten series of articles stress
on segregating the homeschooling in two different contexts, rural-based homeschooling and urban-based homeschooling. We have come across the contextual
understanding about rural and urban in terms of competencies as well
as socio-economic conditions, and thus it shows us a clear image of homeschooling settings in both urban and rural area.
Stay
tuned up for more articles.
You
can share your feedback on this initiative- reach.clf@gmail.com
This article is published as a conclusion of a series of 10 articles on
homeschooling. By visiting our homeschooling page, you can read all the
connected articles.
Reflection is contributed by:
Satyasing Mushahary in consultation with Maaz Mohammed AQ
Both are alumni of Azim Premji University (2014-16)