Home Schooling, what can I offer?

My Son will be four before the year ends, which means the year after next he will be able to start school. My husband and I have often talked about our children's education. We live in a semi-rural area and there is a small local public school not too far from us. There is also a number of private schools to choose from, however we have not made any decisions as yet. 

I often think about the day my boy starts school. He is a very friendly kid, and enjoys being around other children, he is clever and learns well. But I do fear the school years. I fear the influence of other children, I fear peer pressure, I fear drugs and alcohol, I fear sex, I fear bullying, I fear violence and I fear that his learning ability will be compromised due to the lack of one-on-one attention that he will NOT receive. 

Whenever we hear of bad publicity about kids and school, my husband and I make jokes about how we will be home educating the kids. Honestly though, I had never really considered Home Education as a real option, the first thing I think of when it comes to schooling is 'public or private', but a fellow blogger has challenged my thinking.

In the blog, written by Woman Uncensored titled The space in between home schooling and public schooling a mother revels her plans to home school her daughter. The mother sounds a little nervous by the prospect, but is willing to give it her best shot. I was quite interested as I had not really given much thought to Home Schooling before, so, I left this comment;

Hmm, this is obviously something that works for you. I like the idea, but I'm not exactly sure of how it all works. My son is very social, he attends pre-school twice a week, we are on holidays at the moment and he can't wait to get back. I was wondering about how you would go about social interactions for your kids? If I home schooled my son I'm afraid my son would miss out on valuable time alone with peers of his own age and interest,just time for free play (not including any sports groups or other scheduled activity) and I think its something he would need everyday. What do you think of this? Also I wanted to know why you prefer not to send your child to school. What happens when they grow up and have to be in an institutional world anyway, like college/ university or in a work institution? I guess I don't really understand it all, but I'm open to learning, I'll have to do some investigating, thanks for challenging my thoughts!

I was hoping for a little reply back from Woman Uncensored but I wasn't too hopeful as she has thousands of followers and I thought my comment would be lost amongst the others. 

The following morning I hopped on the computer, chewing mouthfuls of toast and looking at the clock waiting for the kids to rise I thought I'd log into facebook. Boy was I surprised when there in my news feed I noticed that Woman Uncensored (who has a page on facebook) had posted my question to her wall asking for others to reply with their answers! I nearly choked on my toast! Heaps of people had added their replys, at last check today there was over 50 replies on the facebook page and another dozen or so on the blog page! Incredible, such an overwhelming response! 

I was blown away to see so many parents in support of Home education. In regards to socialisation, it seems this is the main concern when the topic of home education is discussed. Many of the women claimed to have much time with family and friends who have children which their children can interact with. Many of the mothers also said they preferred that their children played with kids of varying ages as it enhances the child's social skills, rather than with kids that were only the same age as theirs.

I read over all the comments, and decided to do my own research, it turns out that home education is not just for weirdos and hippies.

Previously, when I pictured myself home schooling my children, I imagined chaos. Kids running crazy, paintings hanging from the clothes line, and me in a corner trying to figure out the darn maths problems so I could actually teach them to the children. Just as I have fears about "normal" schooling, I have fears about Home schooling too. I fear that my son will miss the chance to engage with his peers without me hovering nearby, I fear that my son will be "sheltered" from the real world, and mostly, I fear that taking responsibility for my sons education means that if my son is not intelligent than it will be my fault. 

It turns out though, that these fears can be easily forgotten once you explore the concepts around home schooling. Kids can get plenty of social time within clubs that they join, not to mention by just playing with the kids in the street. Most importantly there are many "Home schooling groups" that you can meet up with at a local park or community centre. When you really think about it, there is not much social time at school anyway, social time usually consists of 20 minutes recess and a hours lunch break. In regards to the "real world" well I think that kids live in the real world before school. School is not the real world, at school you are 1 kid in a class of 30, learning a curriculum inside a class room. Where's the real world connection there? Children learn well by seeing and doing. Imagine the places you could go, the sights they could see, yes school offers excursions, but they are limited. Now about those maths problems, the good news is that you are not in it alone, each state provides plenty of resources for all those tricky questions.

So what exactly did I discover in my research? Well not much to be honest. I learnt that Home Education is legal in all States of Australia. I learnt that children must be registered for schooling between the ages of 6 and 15, whether it be in home school or "normal" school. There is not much of an argument about which is better or worse. Basically it's personal preference. So in that case, what can I offer my children in a home schooling environment? Well, I can offer a learning environment that is not limited to a class room and a desk, an environment that is free from distractions by other peers. I can offer education that is not limited to the mean knowledge of the children in the classroom, I can offer one-on-one interaction, I can offer spontaneous learning experiences and I can offer so much more, anything really! 

Home Schooling is not just about the kids either. It's about me too,  I have nothing to lose by Home Schooling my children, but I get the feeling that I will have  a lot to gain, mainly the continuum of quality time with my children, a deeper level of bonding and perhaps a certain level of respect. 

Suddenly, Home Schooling/Education makes more sense. When the time comes for us to choose a school environment it looks like the options are no longer limited to public schooling or private schooling, home schooling has been added to the list....and I have to admit, I'm swaying closer to it!