Hi there. In this education post, I want to focus on homeschooling being a viable option. Schools in the Toronto area at least are adopting a quadmester system where students have four nine-week periods in where they study two subjects at a time. In addition, some students do a mix of in-class learning and then online learning or they come into class on alternate days.
With tax-funded schooling being scaled back in terms of service (or even closed), why not opt out and try something else. Private schools do have smaller class sizes in general compared to the public schools but the costs are too high for many. What remains as a viable option would be homeschooling.
This post's motivation is from a student that I worked with at my Mathnasium work. The student is homeschooled.
Parents Work At Home, Kids Learn At Home
With a lot of students learning online at home or attending in-person classes part-time and parents working from home, why not do homeschooling. The parents can work at home and the kids can learn through self-studying at home. There are more opportunities for valuable family bonding time.
Homeschooling Is Flexible
Schools in general have fixed times for when they start and when they close. Some schools start at 8:30 AM, some start at 8AM and so on. Regardless of the school size, all the students in a school have to obey to start and end times. There are no alternate school times.
With homeschooling the class times can vary depending on extreme situations. If a student/child had a sports tournament from a weekend starting school on Monday at 8AM can be tough. The start time under homeschooling can be adjusted to a later time for accomodation.
End times can be adjusted as well. Homeschool days can be shorter than the 8:30 AM to 3PM schedule or longer.
Homeschooled students can still socialize with friends through extracurricular activities, sports, martial arts, language learning and hobbies.
Curriculum Adjustments
The best person who knows their child is the parent. Teaching parents know what their child is good at and which subjects and topics that needs more improvement. Traditional schools (public and private) have to cover topics within a certain timeframe. Some topics may be covered a bit too fast. With homeschooling there is an option for the teaching parent to dedicate more time on certain areas.
Abundance Of Low-Cost & Free Learning Resources
The internet, technology and many online businesses has provided consumers with a bunch of options of low-cost and free learning resources. Teachers can choose their own topics to teach students or choose learning kits with pre-selected topics. There are homeschool learning kits online which can be obtained and downloaded. One resource that I have heard of through someone on Hive is the Ron Paul Homeschooling Curriculum. A free online website that appears to be comprehensive in its topics is ixl.com. This ixl.com site covers English and Mathematics.
It is ideal to choose topics for students which align to teaching philosophies and learning objectives.
Getting Home Cooked Lunches
Many students in school have a ready made packed lunch or buy their own lunches during the school lunch breaks. In a homeschool setting, the lunches are better as they are home-cooked. No need to worry about bad lunches, cold lunches or outside junk food.
Wise words! 😁
I see you've utilised a few images from pixabay. Did you know we now have a Stock Images community and @crosheille has added some lovely education images for the use of Hivers?
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