Home is a School ........................

No policy, No Act, No Constitution can imprison (right to) Education, this is what I believe. 

What Aristotle believed is that ‘The roots of education are bitter but the fruit is sweet’. 

Even though you as a parent face various problems related to the ‘Education of your Child’ at the early stages, I say, ‘Do not give-up’. 

My topic of the day is ‘Home is a school’ and I say before moving on to my topic ‘Home Schooling is not adequate to create a total person’ especially because the world we live is not simple but enormously complex and competitive in everyway. 

There are various opportunities before your, for your child institutionized locally and globally. And there is a system plus a method to education.

I like to categorize the stages / institutions of education, formal and informal that plays the role of the benefactor for your child

·                     Home

·                     Pre-School

·                     Primary School

It is true home is a school unregistered yet you cannot keep your child at home without sending him to a formally established school.  I think it is something that globally accepted by now. Therefore the Parents of the Child should focus on entering the child into the next level mentioned above.

Teaching your child at home is a different process of education or a methodology that can be used to educate your child compared to other institutions. 

‘Do you support home schooling’ this essay was submitted by Bailey (USA) to the ‘China Daily’, I read yesterday.  I thought this is an eye awakening topic to be discussed not only in China but also in any other parts of the world, if that is an issue apparent or proved by researchers.

The editor of the China Daily says providing a note that “It is estimated that about 18,000 Chinese children are educated at home. With more parents and education experts dissatisfied with the current system, do you support home schooling for your child?”

China certainly is a huge country and I believe that she is one of the countries that shows highest population rate in the world. If you take this figure that the editor has given to us is a big number. But I believe that you cannot analyze the number alone unless you have an at least slight awareness on other socio, cultural, political situations or aspects of the country including ‘economic’ that directly affects or indirectly influences your child’s education.

Still, so far,  if China has achieved her goals in Education up to a satisfactory level the number should be less than that I am not saying that it should be ‘Zero’ because it is little difficult to say that a country can achieve 100% in Education due to changing global aspects of everything, complexities. But I believe that China for sure reached her goals to a satisfactory stage compared to the years gone passing by her.  

‘Types of families’, socio economic back grounds of such families are something that helps the teacher to identify the child better other than other things in the big society she / he live. 

You find two main types of families in this global society we live, mainly identified by the sociologists of the world.

·         Nuclear Family

·         Extended Family

I am not going to talk much about foster families or Orphanages because it is something you can discuss vastly thinking of origin of such aspects.

In Nuclear families; the total number of members is less compared to the number in the extended families.

I must say that home is a learning place for every one in the family; it is not just a learning institute for children only.

The Child in the extended families gets more chances to learn from each other than the child in the Nuclear families. In Extended families you find one of the most experienced teachers of the world, the grand parents live with them, plus other members.  So other than from the parents the child picks and chooses things from them and that helps child to enhance the vocabulary in various ways.

But one mustn’t forget that it affects either ways, positively or negatively (rarely though) depending on their awareness on the subject, their experiences in child rearing, their attitudes towards education, their perceptions on ‘child’s education’, what they know or learned as ‘Education’ or what they believe is ‘Education’ 

That is why some believe that ‘home schooling is adequate for a child to learn’, or home based system is a good way to educate the child other than educating your child in a kindergarten. 

According to what experts believe you don’t really teach A B C‘s in early Stages of the child but other things that helps or enhance the child‘s education at the latter stages of her / his education period.

That is why it is essential to know ‘what do you mean or understand by ‘home based education system’ or home schooling’?

Also, you must think of the advantages and disadvantages of such systems, to know or to learn ‘what chooses your child most with regard to their education.

Now, the world is moving ahead from the traditional methods of learning towards new methods of learning, testing them, practicing them, and introducing them but respecting the methods old.  

Some say that now it is the time to step back to the methods of 03 –R ; Reading , wRiting and aRithmetic but I think it needs careful consideration and study before analyzing it.

Home Based Education; basically it steals the chances of child learning from their peers that comes from various back grounds.

And child does not get any chances to learn from other ones other than from you, if you think that you teach your child keeping him at home, without sending him / her to another place recognized as a learning institution. 

Most grand parents are retired workers staying at home so that the child spends most of their early childhood period with them developing dialogues, conversations with them every passing day when their parents are busy earning the expenses of education or school fees, clothing or food for them, perhaps shelter as well

It is true that every parent is a teacher but is every parent a well trained teacher to educate their child that is the question I have in my mind?

Child bearing, child rearing is different to teaching though you find all in one

Different techniques, different methods should be used in teaching, experts say, depending on the needs and levels of the child with regard to education

It is true that if you take ‘story telling for instance’, the teachers use different methods compared to the methods that a grand parent use. You can see how the child can benefit from both methods. I do not know how practical it is for a teacher to use the method of story telling that a grand parent uses for his / her grand child

When the story is narrated before the child, you know that the child sits on the lap of the parent / grand parent or sits some where very close to her parent / grand parent heart very comfortably and affectionately. I do not think that teacher can follow such a method but the method she uses in the class room benefits the child many other ways.

The Grand Parents are the most famous story tellers of the world doing that very genuinely.

Immeasurable roles of the grand parents in child rearing and educating the child at their early stages are something unforgotten or less valued.

Before your child entering into a school that is in the system of education of your country, formal, the child spends learning things from the people around them. I can say that we can forget ‘pre-natal stage’ for a moment but trying to analyze the period that child stays at home with their siblings / parents / grand parents. From birth to the stage of child entering the Pre-School, they are the benefactors, educators of the child.

If you suggest that home schooling is useful and better do not forget that your child misses the chances of learning the ‘essences of sharing education’, importance of sharing the things they learn from each other, from their home schools.

The child must learn that the world is larger than the place she / he reside. Similarly there are other places, other people other than their siblings, relatives, parents, grand parents etc , the child should learn that as well at her / his early stage of life and doesn’t wait till she becomes old to learn that. There are other things waits before your child that he / she should learn at those different stages of education.

The child should learn what she or he should learn at that specific stage not later or before. That is what you called ‘right or accurate education’, systematic or methodical education.  

At school, ethically and educationally your child is not treated differently. Every child, every moment or any described or allocated moments they all learn one thing together that their teacher teaches them.  Take basics of mathematics for instance, if the teacher says that one plus one is two every child learns it at that point in a school class room not at different times at different places. 

Yes, it is true that some children may not learn or perhaps shows difficulties in learning what the teacher says, that is something different that teacher should be targeted when teaching their kids/ students. . That is why it is essential to have a well trained teacher for your child’s education. 

If your child doesn’t absorb or learn what you teach them at home, what do you do, though according to you child is well taken care of at home and is happy learning at home? But if you take your child to a school, and if your child shows some difficulties in learning, the teacher has a medication / treatment for the issue obstacles that your child faces that you do not have.  

Every child is a child but every child is unique and different as well. I do not think that one size fits for all, always.  I do not know whether it is possible to identify the learning disabilities or learning difficulties that the child faces or shows without any proper understanding of the subject. 

Then think of the child’s next stage of learning

If you teach them at home without sending them to a formal recognize school at her early stages of learning while other children learn at formal schools what happens next?

You cannot keep your child at home for forever, you should direct your child to the next stage of learning, Primary School for instance. 

Do you think or can you assure that your child will not show any differences compared with other children with regard to learning in the class rooms.  That is only when you think that you should keep your child at home only until primary schools begins. The child may face difficulties in picking things faster than or the way that other children picks because child is busy trying to adjust to the new system.    

Laying a proper foundation is important in education because that directly affect your child’s latter stage of life up to choosing a suitable profession or carrier 

Such things help your child to focus on education and choose a stream that matches their interests of learning after all.

It is no strange even if child doesn’t like or shows no interests to join a new group since it’s a new place for her / him with people that he / she has not seen or have not met before. 

Some children are easily adoptable or adjustable to any new place depending on the ways she / he was looked after at her / his early stages at home, within family.

No educational laws of countries encourage parents to keep their child at home and educate them the way they want or prefer, I believe.

I think if you keep your child at home without sending them to a formal school it’s an offense. Am I right?

The child must get every chance to use her / his ‘Rights to Education’ though she doesn’t know the meaning of it at her early stages of life, like others do.

It is a responsibility of not only of the parents but also of the relevant authorities of the governments of the countries to provide necessary environment, adequate resources for the education of the children.

It is highly essential to have a proper system established within any country without keeping the child at home for a longer period of time due to what ever reason; social or political or otherwise.  

Preparing the child for the Pre -school / Primary) is a duty or a responsibility of not only the parents also of the teachers of the Pre-School 

At her / his early stages of learning, the child should learn liberty fully not forcefully but systematically

Finally, I like to dedicate this piece of writing to all benefactors of learning of my life that I met so far