The new year brings along new plans, resolutions and decisions. It is often the time that life-changing decisions occur, and making the decision to home educate might be one of them.
There are countless reasons to home educate and to narrow them down to just a few was almost impossible. Had I allowed myself to do so, I could easily have written a book on the benefits of it.
However, I did manage to restrain myself to limit this post to something you can read over a cuppa but do, of course, feel free to add your own in the comments below.
Here are five reasons that I am such a fan of home education:
You can fit it in whenever, wherever
Hands up if you are now humming the tune in your head.
Raises hand
Sorry.
I digress.
My life is exceptionally busy. I have to fit in work, housework, fun, study and appointments on a calender packed with commitments for over a dozen people and days that, at 24 hours, leave many things on the to-do list left moving over to the to-try-to-do-tomorrow list.
I deal with clients all over the world so my inbox is full of requests, queries, jobs and other stuff to deal with on a consistent basis. There is no 9 to 5 and one day is not like any other. Some days are crazy busy, others are completely quiet. Even on the quiet days there is always something to do or write.
I cannot concentrate as I need to at home, not for everything I need to do. Escaping for at least a couple of hours a day to throw myself into work without the distraction of getting cups from cupboards, wiping bottoms or generally being interrupted through every two words of an email is vital if I want to get everything done.
Sometimes, it suits me to work early in the morning. Sometimes I’ll get a sudden influx of things to deal with in the evening. And other times, it’s the lunchtime hours that I need to divert my attention from children to work. And sometimes, it’s nice to say sod it, and take advantage of the opportunity to do whatever we want to do when we want to do it.
There are no school bells to worry about and no clock watching. The day can flow as it needs to and can change if required, making everything from work, to sickness, to holidays to days out easier to deal with.
There are no restrictions to what your child can learn about
The internet has undoubtedly made home education more accessible to everyone, everywhere. There is nothing you can’t find out about or learn about online.
From learning a musical instrument, finding experiments to work on or learning a new skill, the flexibility of our time means that the children can expand their knowledge about the things they are really interested in, as well as the things we might feel they need to learn as standard. Take proper keyboard usage for example, there are great typing programs for kids on this website that are sure to prepare children in a fun and easy way for digital communication.
This aspect helps to increase confidence in the future when it comes to online assessments such as an employer’s literacy or numerical ability test for recruitment.
You can tailor your child’s home education to suit them
Every child is different. Every child has different skills and every child has different talents. Adults are no different.
Some children are visual learners, some children are more academic, others are more practical.
Home education gives children the opportunity to work on the things they are interested in or in a way that suits them better. As a result, they’ll often find learning enjoyable rather than a chore.
Children are confident in making choices that aren’t the ‘norm’
The problem is, children often have no say in whether they have the time, resources or support to follow and develop their talents. By the time they grow into adults capable of doing so, they have already been conditioned into thinking about living life life in a certain way; usually following the go to school-go to college/uni-get a job-work for years-retire pattern of life.
Home educating, even though it is growing, is still often quite misunderstood. By living the home educating life with its flexibility it provides, children realise that there are very few boundaries at all that cannot be crossed and very few opportunites that cannot be explored.
This provides them with confidence and reassurance that they will take with them through their lives.
There are many ways to home educate that suit every budget
Whether you make use of your local library, hire a tutor, purchase or swap second hand books and equipment or enrol your child with an online school such as InterHigh, home education can be tailored to suit your budget.
Only the basics are really needed. A pen, paper and a computer with internet access for research is the only starting point you need. You don’t need to purchase particular products, there is no set curriculum to follow and you don’t need to spend money on things you don’t need.
Days out are fabulous learning experiences, make wonderful family time together and provide learning opportunities without even realising. They are also cheap or often free.
I could have gone on and on but these are just five of my reasons. Do you have any to add? I’d love to hear them.
This post was brought to you in association with InterHigh.
