home education from a dad's perspective

Okay, so here's the deal. I'm useless when it comes to blogs. For a long time I felt they were a pointless waste of cyberspace filled with the mindless ramblings of overly emotional "emo" kids with nothing better to do than to write about how unfair their life is because daddy won't buy them a new car for Christmas. Obviously I couldn't be more wrong if I tried! Needless to say, there are blogs like that out there. But there are also so many more filled to the brim with the experiences of many people from as many backgrounds on a vast number of different topics. Once I had gotten over my initial stereotype I decided to keep a blog of my very own!

I failed.

A year or so later I tried again. In 10 months I have made two posts. Needless to say, I am not as disciplined as perhaps one should be when keeping up with these things. However, since this isn't just a blog for me, I am hopeful that several months won't pass between posts!

So anyway, I feel I have babbled enough nonsense for the moment so I will get to the point! Home education from a dad's perspective. When I first heard about home educating, I had an image of the kids sitting around the kitchen table with a notepad and a pen taking notes whilst we lectured them in the sciences, taught them how to do sums and how to read books. Most people will, no doubt, have a similar image of a school lesson taking place at home with a parent trying to be a teacher.

Needless to say, when my wife first suggested that we should consider home education as an option I was more than a little nervous about the idea. I mean, neither of us are teachers after all! What do we know about teaching children? Well, that got me thinking. What did I know about teaching children? I'm not a qualified teacher. I don't remember all the details of all the subjects I was made to study whilst I was at school. In fact I remember mostly not caring about much of what I was expected to learn at the time. 

The more I thought about it the more I realised that actually, I know an awful lot about how to teach my children! I mean, we have been doing it for 8 years already! They can walk, they can talk. They can feed themselves, they can use the toilet, they can brush their teeth (mostly. With supervision. Oh  alright, the Tiny Clanger requires a little help!), they can get dressed, they know (most of the time) when I try and short change them with the sweetie offerings, and they are constantly learning and improving on what they already know anyway! They are all very inquisitive and love to explore. They have an infinite amount of questions that require answers. Finding out about how the world works has never been easier! Tricky questions can be answered with a quick search on the internet instead of struggling with trying to remember the names of all the Greek gods or what the capital city of Iceland is called. (For the record, I am lead to believe it is Reykjavík.)

Then I thought about my time at school. How I felt about it at the time, and how I feel about it now. Don't get me wrong. It's not like I truly hated going to school. But I was never really happy there. I have always struggled to learn something I have no interest in. I have memories of sat being bored doodling on exam papers, not because I thought they were difficult, but because I really couldn't care less if Suzanne had more apples the Jane. My handwriting is appalling. No amount of schooling could or did change that! I wasn't the most popular kid in school, but I had a good circle of friends and we were, for the most part, left alone. To be honest, I kind of wish I had been given the option to learn at home! 

So I did some reading and research on home education and what it meant for us. The more I read, the more I realised it could actually work! You don't need to turn your home into a classroom and bore your kids to death by lecturing them. You don't need to spend hours planning what you should be teaching. There is nothing to stop you if that's what works for you, but it is not necessary. There are plenty of groups, clubs, gatherings and the like to ensure that the kids meet other children from a variety of backgrounds and age groups. As far as IT goes, they have a geek for a dad. I work for one of the largest IT Service providers in the world. They will learn more about IT at home from me than they ever will at school.

So, I put my remaining doubts aside and agreed that we should at least try it and see. I mean after all,  it isn't like we cannot change our minds if later on down the line we find that it isn't working for us, or if the kids decide they want to go back to school. I did make it clear to the older two that it was not an option to take lightly and that they couldn't keep changing their minds every other week. If we were going to try it we all had to agree to it and so that is what we did.

I have to say, that since we deregistered them, they seem happier for being able to do their own thing. This in turn makes me happier. Let them enjoy their childhood for as long as possible. Now there is some sound advice! Something I should try hard to remember myself!

So in summary, if in doubt do some research! I realise I haven't posted any links in this post, but seriously. If you are reading this blog then it is obviously something you are considering. Look at the plus side. No more having to do the school run in all weathers. No more needing to book holidays round the school term. No more need to buy school uniforms! But best of all, the freedom for your kids to learn in their own way, at their own pace. Something that is difficult to do in school!

And there we have it! By my calculations I should be about ready for another post sometime in the spring. Probably. Maybe. Don't hold your breath! 

Thanks for reading.