What are teachers saying about homeschooling?
My daughter recently turned 5 years old. Five seems to be the age at which most children start school in New Zealand. This has resulted in questions about her schooling pouring in from all sides over the last few months everywhere we go. From parents making casual conversation at extramural activities to concerning relatives to the lady at the supermarket checkout counter, to friends at church. These questions have led to interesting conversations about homeschooling, most of them being surprisingly positive.
Over the last two years, I’ve had many uncomfortable conversations about homeschooling. Not because I doubted my choice and convictions, but because others seemed to want to use me as a search engine and ask me questions that I couldn’t answer with good authority yet. They also seemed to structure their questions to try and catch me out on some technicality, rather than trying to understand why we chose this path for ourselves. I felt anxious to even mention the word ‘homeschooling’ and often avoided the topic of education altogether.
The tide does seem to be turning on the ‘homeschooling’ narrative. The more people I speak to now, the more parents admit to me that they would have loved to homeschool their children if it were not for their circumstances. I’ve even ended up inviting multiple interested mothers to our house to look through our curriculum and homeschool space as they entertain the idea for themselves.
Some of the most interesting conversations I’ve had recently have been with schoolteachers. In each case, I held my breath, waiting for the interrogation and criticism to start. To my surprise, they had some of the most positive responses to the idea of homeschooling. And why wouldn’t they? They have real, firsthand experience of what happens in schools and classrooms. They know the challenges of the education system better than anyone. One teacher even suggested that I could homeschool her kid on her behalf!
Here are some of the feedback and insights I learned from my conversations with teachers and the reasons they support our decision to homeschool:
State set curriculum
The curriculum taught at public schools is determined by the government and, in some cases, by the school. The teachers themselves have limited discretion when it comes to how and what the children are to be taught. In most cases, there is one curriculum plan for children for a particular year and the teacher is required to stick to it.
I still vividly remember my own struggles with high school math. No matter how many times I asked for help from my teacher at school, I couldn’t make sense of her explanations of the content. She only had one way to teach the curriculum, which just so happens to confuse me consistently. My only saving grace was getting a tutor outside of the school system to help “unconfuse” me in time for exams.
You don’t need a research study, although there are many, to know that children have different interests and learn in different ways. Just watch a couple of children play at a park and you’ll see just how much individuality is present in each child. The school system and curriculum has no way off accommodating their uniqueness. There isn’t space in the schedule (or teacher capacity) to approach a new topic from different angles, or to accommodate different learning styles.
Pace of the system
Just as the curriculum for the year is set and planned out, so is the pace at which topics are to be taught. Although, does it really make sense to expect all children to learn things at the same pace, and master the same skills in the same amount of time? Of course not! In a large classroom, teachers try their best to set a pace that should accommodate most children while also keeping a firm eye on the schedule for the year. This pace only really works well for a small group in the class.
For some children, the teacher would be moving too slowly and they end up sitting through lessons of things they have mastered and become bored. This can severely impact their love for learning and even hinder their progress. For other children, the pace is too fast and they never quite master a topic before they’re forced to move on. They miss opportunities for deep learning and mastery. They develop a frustration with learning, and over time it can severely impact their self-esteem.
Teacher ratios
In many classrooms, unless provision is made for students with special needs, there is one teacher for a class of about 30 students. This means the teacher’s focus must be on getting through the curriculum and instituting practices that help to keep 30 kids quiet enough for teaching to be possible. It’s a tough job. Unfortunately, this affords very little time to spend with individual children to ensure that they are grasping what is being taught and are able to make sense of it for themselves. There are some truly amazing teachers who go out of their way to help their students but they simply cannot provide a one-to-one level of support.
Long hours
One of the things that seem to surprise people the most about homeschooling if they’ve only ever been exposed to traditional schooling, is how time-efficient it is. Oh, don’t get me wrong it takes a large investment of time from the homeschooling parent, but children benefit from having to spend much less time behind a desk and more time to engage in personal interests and play. The reality is that a lot of time is ‘wasted’ during a school day. Things like waiting for the class to quiet down, or line up, or move between classrooms, or complete required administrative tasks add up.
My young homeschooler completes her schoolwork within 2 hours, split up in two sessions and can use the rest of the day to engage in meaningful play, art, preparing food and learning basic self-care skills like how to do laundry. She attends dance and swim classes, fun hiking activities with other homeschoolers. Our days are less rushed and we have time to work on character building, reading and learning from Scripture, building the relationships in our family and serve in our community.
If you’re exploring the schooling options available for your children, do as much research as you need to feel comfortable about your decision and make your decisions prayerfully. You can always change your mind if something isn’t working for your family. Have you experienced a more positive attitude towards homeschooling in your community? Share your thoughts in the comments!