Parents and Homeschool

A Story by Scarlet Klenn

With many parents homeschooling their children, the question that should be answered is, should parents teach their children academics?

Every generation of parents has transmitted customs, family traditions, and traditions down to their children. Society expects this of parents, to teach values and good social skills. But should parents be the ones to teach their children academics? Some experts claim it is effective, but many others question its validity and if the child would do better in a regular classroom environment. Either way, it should be an individual decision that can be intelligently made if selected guidelines are followed.

Should You Home School?

One of the first things to decide: What is the reason for taking the child out of the public school for homeschooling? Many times, problems within a school system are easily repaired with parent-teacher conferences and/or meetings with board members. It is often beneficial for parents to try tutoring their child before taking on the roll of full-time instructor.

This provides the parent and the child with an opportunity to see if the role of teacher-student is something they can maintain. Tutoring your own child should be something that is carefully thought out. The grounds for deciding should include mother-father agreement and/or disagreement, health problems, financial issues, and if the other members of the family might have extensive demands on parental attention.

Another consideration would be if the parents have the resources needed to provide comprehensive tutoring. This does not mean access to a book, but instead are the parents capable of working through difficult information and relaying correct information back to the child.

Questions for Tutoring

Will the tutoring sessions be arranged when there will be no interruption from siblings, callers, or other family issues? These are all important considerations, not only for tutoring but especially for teaching the child at home.

In homeschooling it is feasible for the child/student to become inundated with academic instruction and resent the home sessions and/or start to feel pressure. It is also possible that the parent(s) could become frustrated, tense, disappointed, and/or impatient during the sessions.

Parents who find this happening would do better to spend their time with their child in activities that are mutually enjoyable. Foremost, parents should make sure they provide their children with a home environment of warmth, acceptance, and understanding. Homeschooling and tutoring may be better presented without parental involvement.

For whatever reason it is necessary to remove a child from the designated school, other options such as private school, home-school with a hired teacher, and one-on-one schooling with someone other than a parent may be better options. Something as crucial and as important as education should include careful thought and discussions before any decision is made that will change the environment where the student is learning.

References:

Cartwright, C.A. Developing Observation Skills. McGraw-Hill. New York. 1984

Hutton, J.B. Social-Emotional Dimension Scale. Pro-Ed. Autin , Tx 1986