Keeping Children At Home, Or Sending Them To School

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This subject has found a regular place in the news media these days. What is best for our children? Do we send them off to school or keep them home? The media refers to keeping them home as "homeschooling," but in many cases, the students enroll in tax-funded e-schools and must follow curriculums that parallel those in brick and mortar schools. So, parents have at least three options:

  • Send their children to their local schools.
  • Enroll their children in an online tax-supported e-school program that fulfills the state's requirements.
  • Notify one's school district that you are electing to educate your children at home, on your own, following your own curricular choices.

A fourth choice that many families often choose is enrolling students in private or parochial schools. 


What's best? That will vary from family to family and from child to child sometimes. Is there someone who can be in charge of your students throughout the school day and often into the night? Since no one can count on daycare these days, one must have a family situation that accommodates parents who must work outside the home. However, many parents can work from home right now and perhaps will be able to do so indefinitely. This can open the "homeschool" option to more families. 


Some families have older children who can supervise younger children when a parent must be out of the home, either for work or to visit a physician, a dentist, or a therapist (speech therapists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, psychological therapists). I had known several families who were able to arrange their schedules so that the older, more mature children could be responsible for the younger children when no other adult was available. And in other cases, families had other family members who helped, either by coming to the family home or by taking family members' children into their home when parents could not be there. So, yes, one has options. 


What type of curriculum should the homeschooling family follow? Dozens of options exist. Again, this will vary from family to family and often from child to child. I like to encourage children to follow self-directed learning. Parents can start with whatever piques each child's interest and build their curriculum around those interests. Almost any interest can spin into a full-fledged curriculum involving reading, writing, and arithmetic. Students can read books online or listen to books. Plenty of learning videos are available these days, though I recommend parental supervision of sites that offer these since some provide things that are not appropriate for many children. Our public libraries are now offering curbside pick-up for books that have been ordered online.  


If you want your family to follow a more regimented curriculum, many are available for free online. These cover the same subjects at much the same levels as one would find in public, private, or parochial schools. I like the freedom of home education. I found that allowing a child to follow their interests keeps students involved and removes the burden of enforcing a less than enthusiastic child to follow someone else's curriculum. 


So, where do you begin? Start with anything that interests your child right now. Despite the limitations we all face these days, usually, a student can choose one or more personal interests. For now, families must decide what they want to do for the school year. Enroll in your local school and accept whatever they decide, or choose your path, at least for now? 


Norma




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