Learning at home (review of home education). School education vs home education

The system of our education at the moment is a very relevant and painful topic for me, since next year my child has to go to school. But we are starting to face problems now. I understand that some kindergarten teachers decided to thoroughly prepare parents for school psychologically.

I just don't understand how these people are going to teach my child and what can they give him?! We were very lucky with our teacher. But the luck is that we made our choice of a preschool based on what kind of teacher the child will have, and not on the beauty of the premises and the coolness of the toys. We will approach the question of the first teacher even more seriously. Although the thoughts of home education began to visit my head, already confused by all these “holidays-festivals-the-child-has-a-white-shirt-and-black-pants-like-everyone” head. I don't want robots to turn my child into another robot that is able to work and think solely on instructions. Our education system is clumsy and I am not sure that what my child will be taught in school will be relevant in 11 years. So if you're interested in everything about teaching children outside of school, you'll be interested to hear some tips from people who have already gone through this experience.

What is Homeschooling?

He, like me and many of my friends, believes that at the moment the education system is not able to give children what they really need. The school prepares robots that are not able to learn on their own and in order to learn new material, they need a teacher. School is full of rules and prohibitions. For children, this is more like hard labor, and during lessons and preparing homework, they rather do not live, but serve time. Then they go for a walk and do other things, that is, live.

At home, learning for children is fun. And it does not last for a certain period of time, but happens constantly. Every new book you read, a picture you draw, or a conversation with an interesting person. Children do not study according to strict rules - this is not hard labor. For them, such learning is life itself, during which they constantly learn something new and interesting, and life is the largest and most interesting school in the world with amazing teachers and workshops.

If at school they study according to clear instructions and specially selected textbooks, then at home you can use any source of information.

At school, students learn to follow instructions clearly, and at home you can teach your child to think for himself.

At school, everyone learns at the same pace and under the same program. At home, the child learns at the pace that helps best absorb information. All children are different. Perception and memorization of different information is also different, so you can’t equalize everyone, and if you don’t have time, then you’re not trying hard enough. There are no laggards and losers at home. There are no losers in homeschooling.

Positive aspects of home education

This is how entrepreneurs learn. The school teaches you to follow instructions and prepares good employees. Homeschooling allows children to think for themselves and make decisions on their own in order to navigate uncharted waters. Homeschooling trains entrepreneurs, not robots.
It's much more natural. If we take the entire history of mankind, then school education is still very, very young. Prior to this, people did not go to school and yet geniuses appeared, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Leo Tolstoy, Mozart, Einstein and Benjamin Franklin.
It gives a feeling of freedom. School structure is good for those who like to have someone else make decisions for them. But if you want to make your own decisions and learn things as needed, you will need more freedom than school can give you.
We learn with children. The school makes it so that parents are gradually completely removed from the learning process. During homeschooling, parents are always there, they help, suggest and guide. In addition to the fact that you yourself will learn a lot of new and interesting things, your children will learn to interact with other people in order to find answers to their questions with their help in the future.
It's much more fun. As I already wrote, school is training in a strictly limited period of time. This is necessary and very often, instead of listening to the teacher, the children look at the clock in anticipation of the end of this hard labor. Homeschooling is not compulsory. It is integral to life and is not limited in time.

How to study at home

Since learning at home is a lesson without rules, it is difficult to build a unified system. So it will be a little scary at first. It’s scary not because it will be difficult for the child, but because you may not be able to cope. Therefore, Leo wrote some general tips that will guide you on the right path.

Listen to your child. By the age of six, it is already clear what he especially likes and what is difficult. The eldest son Leo wants to go to college, so he signed up for special preparatory courses on the Internet. He has already decided on what he likes, and directed all his efforts to perfection in these subjects. It all depends on the inclinations of your child. It can be the exact sciences or a passion for literature or languages. Or maybe you have a future brilliant violinist or artist. Guide them and support them, and then by the time they enter the university, they will already clearly know what they want to do. And it is unlikely to fail the exams.
The power of questions. All children love to ask questions. And this is very good, because the question is a great opportunity to learn something new. Look for answers with them in books, on the net, or ask experts in this field if there are any among your acquaintances.
Your acquaintances are an incredible source of knowledge. Who can best explain how a car engine works - a teacher at school, or an auto mechanic? The same goes for everything else. Don't be afraid to ask questions with your child. This will be very pleasant for many and they will gladly share their knowledge about their favorite business.
Play games. Play all kinds of games and don't focus on what exactly the game can teach you. The main thing is that children will have fun and they will learn that life can be a game and will learn in this game.
Don't forget about science projects. It could be a mockup or experience with plants. It can be anything, and everything related to science. And it can also be a lot of fun.
Indulge the interests of the child. If you see that your child is very interested in any science, help him learn about this area as much as possible.

A break from the school system and a reconfiguration. If your child has already been in school for some time, he will need a little time to move away from the system and start his learning without limits. It can be either a week or two, or several months. Don't worry, you can quickly make up for lost time.

Submit interesting magazines and books. This will be a good incentive to learn something new. Where can a child get an interest, for example, in diving, if he has never read about it or watched fascinating videos about the underwater world?
Find your way. The most important thing about homeschooling is figuring out what is right for your child. Try different things. Play. Master. Go out and meet new people who have a lot to say. You should always be fun and interesting. There should be no coercion. As soon as the child feels that he is being forced to do something, interest will instantly disappear.
Be patient. You won't see quick results, but your child is changing, albeit slowly. It may seem to you that he is lazy and does not want to study, and immediately there will be a temptation to force the child to do something related to study. But that's how you ruin everything. Just let them play what they want. Over time, they learn to self-regulate their games and learning.
Trust. It is very important to trust your children, and at first it can be very difficult to believe that they are quite capable of learning on their own. If they are interested in something, they will definitely learn it.

To be honest, looking back at my studies at school, I don’t understand why it was necessary to stuff me with all this, if in the end less than half was useful? Erudition? I think it's more of a waste of time. Well, tell me, why do I need to know everything about the order of arthropods, unless I'm going to become a biologist or a zoologist ?! Yes, you need to know where the apples on the trees come from, but why so detailed? How much time and effort was spent on something that will never come in handy in life? Why drag all this baggage, which filled a rather valuable resource - memory - almost to the top? It is better to travel with a goal and knowledge that will help you achieve it as quickly as possible. And if I need to do something else and I don't know how, then I just find the necessary information and learn.

It will be very difficult, but if you don’t give up, trust your children and don’t be lazy yourself, you will definitely succeed. This is a very controversial and difficult question - do children need a school. I think that there will be a huge number of people who will stand up for the school system. But we are able to make the right choice on our own, without regard to what people will say and the fact that now the child does not go to school like everyone else. And who are all these others?

What do you think? Would you dare to leave school and homeschool your child?

Sometimes in life situations arise when a student cannot attend a regular school. In this case, it is necessary to use the online method of education, because when we study at home, we can get even more knowledge. The remote form is no worse than the generally accepted one and provides many conveniences and advantages. Now our portal provides an opportunity to study at the Home School.

Studying at home and gaining knowledge

In order to claim with full responsibility that we study at home and receive the full amount of knowledge, several steps must be taken. First, you need to choose a suitable online school that will fully meet your wishes for the education of your child. You can use our portal site, which provides a full range of online training services. A good selection of competent teachers, real experts in their field, modern construction of classes and feedback successfully distinguish our school from a number of similar ones. Secondly, you need to write a statement by which you confirm the desire and ability to study remotely.

Parent participation in the learning process

We need to understand that when we study at home, parents should not step back from the educational process. With this acquisition of knowledge, double control is performed. On the one hand, teachers monitor the learning process, identifying weaknesses and guiding them in the right direction, on the other hand, parents evaluate knowledge by grades and, following recommendations, strive to improve the way of learning. Dual control individually for your child helps to achieve the desired results.

Correct and convenient lesson planning

You can often hear in response to the question why you are not at school - we study at home. This may seem strange, because any process of education takes time. But the fact is that proper planning of classes allows your child to freely attend sports sections, circles, and walk more on the street.

Affordable tuition fees

Many are afraid of the need to pay for online education. If you think about how many contributions for various reasons you have to make in a regular "free" school, the material benefits of this method of education become clear. And to the complaints of acquaintances about extortion for repairs, gifts, visual aids, you can answer that you don’t have such a problem, since we study at home.

The obvious advantages of online learning lie on the surface. Your child receives an individual education and is given maximum attention. With online lessons, you do not need to be in one place. You have the right to move from one city to another, while the learning process is not interrupted. Often physical handicaps make it impossible for your child to attend school. In this case, online education will be a great alternative. After graduation, the graduate of the online school will be fully prepared for the State Exams and pass them with flying colors.

Often, to pass the exam or simply fill gaps in knowledge in complex subjects, such as mathematics and physics, you need to hire a tutor. The Internet school can successfully play its role, and much more effectively.

Having assessed all the advantages and benefits of distance learning, having made an informed decision, you will be able to proudly assert in front of friends and acquaintances that my child and I study at home and receive excellent knowledge.

Pavel Parfentiev, family education expert, legal practitioner, chairman of the International Public Organization “For the Rights of the Family”, author of the book “Without School”, and also the author of the idea of the first Russian social network “Learning at Home”: : In Russia, there are several ways and several legal regimes to carry out such education. It was home education that historically was the first and main way of teaching children. The school appears as a help to the family, and optional - from an interview with "Pravoved".

Compulsory and compulsory education of children first appeared in Prussia during the period of its active militaristic expansion, and the purpose of this system was to prepare from children ideal employees, workers, military men for a state that was actively expanding militarily. The system of compulsory education for children, based on history, is a phenomenon of a totalitarian state.”

— Is family education a valid alternative to school education? Are parents informed about the possibility of this type of education? What does the current Federal Law on Education say?

Parfentiev:“According to Art. 52, paragraph 4 of the Law on Education, all parents have the right to give their child primary general, basic general and secondary general education in the family. In accordance with the current legislation (Article 63 of the RF IC, Article 52 of the Law on Education), it is the parents, and not the school, who are responsible for the education of the child. It is the parents who have the right not only to choose the educational institution, but also the form of education for the child. However, there are no restrictions on this form. The law also does not require parents and pedagogical education.

Disabled children can receive home-based education, when teachers from school come to the house. Family education and external studies are available to all children without health restrictions. At the same time, parents themselves are responsible for organizing the learning process. With family education, at school, children only pass intermediate and final assessments.

- Is the presence of a parent at home required, and how is this possible for modern parents? What was noted at the round table in the public chamber?

Parfentiev: In home education, we are successfully implementing what the reform of school education is still striving for.”

Why is it better to study in a family?

Parfentiev: Studies show that during socialization at school, the child finds himself in an artificially created peer environment of the same age. The family is a more complex structure, and due to this, the child is involved in various social relationships, reaching out to the level of older family members, more responsible. Family education is based on the educational culture of the family, that is, the child adopts the attitude to knowledge and learning from the parents themselves.

- What will be the new bill on education and what place does “family education” take there. How do amendments to the Law on Education differ in different regions?

Parfentiev: Until 2004, the Federal Law provided for compensation corresponding to the funding of a student in a school. At the moment, compensation remains only in a few regions, incl. in Moscow. We consider this discrimination.

How are such forms of education regulated by law as external studies, self-education, family education, and what are their differences?

Parfentiev:“Family education is currently not regulated at the federal level in any way, especially in those regions where there are no regional regulations on family education, everything is at the discretion of the school. There are situations when the school requires almost weekly certification, school attendance, which does not correspond to the specifics of family education, and is simply illiterate.

Many parents think that if a child studies at home, then mom or dad sit next to him from morning to evening and go through the entire school curriculum with him. I have often heard such comments: “Our child goes to school - and we STILL sit with him until late at night every day until all the lessons are done. And if you didn’t go, it means you have to sit for several more hours a day!!!” When I say that no one “sits” with my children, doing “lessons” with them, they simply do not believe me. They think that this is bravado. But if you really cannot let your child study without your participation (i.e., you intend to “do homework” with him for 10 years), then, of course, home schooling is absolutely not suitable for you. It initially assumes some independence of the child. If you are ready to agree with the idea that the child is able to learn on his own (regardless of what grades he will be given, maybe a “3” for presenting his own thoughts is better than a “5” for writing father's or mother's?) - then you can think about home schooling. Including because it will allow the child to spend less time on what he can do right off the bat, and devote more time to what he does not understand right away. And then it all depends on the worldview of the parents. From what goals you set for yourself. If the goal is a “good certificate” (for admission to a “good university”), this is one situation. And if the goal is the child’s ability to make decisions and make choices, it’s completely different. Sometimes it is possible to achieve both results by setting only one of these goals. But that's just a side effect. It happens, but not for everyone.

Let's start with the most traditional goal - with a "good certificate". Immediately determine for yourself the degree of your participation in solving this problem. If it is you who will decide it, and not your child, then you need to take care of good tutors (who will come to your home) and draw up (alone, or together with the child, or together with the child and his teachers) a schedule of classes. And choose the school where your child will take exams and tests. And which will give him exactly such a certificate as you wanted - for example, some special school in the direction in which you intend to "move" your child.

And if you are not going to completely control the learning process (which seems to me much more natural), then it will be useful to first discuss in detail with the child his own desires, intentions and possibilities. Talk to him about what knowledge he WANTS to get and what he is ready to do for this. Many children who have studied at school are no longer able to plan their own studies. They need a "push" in the form of regular "homework". Otherwise, they fail. But it's easy to fix. At first, you can really help the child plan his classes and even, perhaps, set some tasks for him - and then, having “passed” a couple of subjects in this mode, he will learn this himself.

The easiest way to make a study plan is to calculate how much time you have to study for exams and how much information you need to “swallow” during this time. For example, your child decided to pass 6 subjects in six months. So, an average of a month for each textbook. (Quite enough.)

Then you take all these textbooks and see that 2 of them are quite thin and are read “in one breath” (for example, geography and botany). You decide that each of them can be mastered in 2 weeks. (There is an “extra” month that you can “give away” to the subject that seems the most difficult for your child - for example, Russian with its confusing rules.) Then look at how many pages there are. Let's say there are 150 pages of text in a textbook. This means that you can read 15 pages for 10 days, then leaf through the textbook again in a couple of days to repeat the most difficult chapters, and then go take the exam.

Attention: a question for those who think that studying at home is “very difficult”. Can your child read 15 pages a day and remember what it was about? (Maybe even briefly outline for yourself - using your own conventions and drawings.)
I think most kids will find this too easy. And they will prefer to read not 15, but 50 pages a day, in order to finish this textbook not in 10 days, but in 3! (Some even find it easier to do it IN ONE DAY!)

Of course, not all textbooks are easy to read, and this is not always enough. There is also mathematics, where you need to solve problems, and Russian, where you need to write, and then physics and chemistry ... But the best ways to study more complex subjects are in the process of learning. One has only to start ... And even if something does not work out, you can find a tutor in the most difficult subject, in two, in three ... Only before that it would be very desirable to give the child the opportunity to learn on his own - then he, at least, will begin to understand which is exactly what he can't do.

(I asked my acquaintances who were engaged in tutoring: can they teach ANY child their subject? And what difficulties most often arise with this? As for “any” - this is not entirely true. Occasionally there were such children who could not be taught anything;- (. And these were always precisely those children whom their parents FORCED to study. And vice versa - those children who previously TRIED to study this subject themselves, but something did not work out for them, moved forward most successfully. Then the help of a tutor turned out to be very useful, child he began to understand what had eluded him before, and then everything went fine.)

Usually my children themselves thought about when and how they would study. Every year I asked them questions about my studies less and less. (Sometimes they themselves turned to me with questions - I helped them if I saw that they really needed my help. But I did not interfere with what they could do themselves.)

One more thing. Many people tell me: “It’s good for you - your children are so capable, they want to study ... But you can’t force ours. They won't learn if they don't go to school." As for "capable" children - a moot point. I have normal children. They, like everyone else, have “ability” for something, and not for something. And they study at home not because they are “capable”, but because nothing prevents them from being interested in learning at home.

Very often one hears criticism of the modern school curriculum, schools, teachers, classmates. Parents are increasingly expressing dissatisfaction with the system that their children fall into. But the proposal to transfer the child to home schooling is met with hostility. In this article, I would like to clarify some of the issues of homeschooling from the point of view of Western countries.

The article will focus on homeschooling children who are transferred to homeschooling not for medical reasons, but for other reasons.

Option one. The family lives in a very remote place and the child simply cannot physically attend school, because taking a child 100 kilometers to the nearest school and bringing it back every day is not an option. In such a situation, the family is given a package of textbooks and tasks that children complete at home under the guidance of their parents. In addition, they have the opportunity to attend classes remotely, since technology today allows this. Teachers-curators are assigned to the children, whom you can call or write if you have questions about new material. Students write tests and tests, take exams, get grades like students in schools. But they study at home.

Option two. Parents decide to homeschool their child despite being close to schools. In this case, there can be an infinite number of reasons. A child can simply be far ahead of their peers. The reason may be conflicts with classmates and / or teachers. The child may not be motivated to go to school because they feel they are wasting a lot of time. At an older age, the school may simply not be able to provide the child with subject education within the profile of his choice. As a result, parents are faced with the choice of whether to keep their child in the mainstream school system or try to give them more individualized and personalized instruction.

Depending on the child and where they live, parents can go homeschooling in several ways.

1. External. In this case, the child simply studies at home using the same textbooks as classmates at school. Training is about the same as with remote living. The advantages in this case are obvious. The child learns at his own pace, he does not have to catch up with his classmates or, on the contrary, wait for the teacher to finish calming the class and begin to give material. According to the observations of teachers, external study saves the student a lot of time, freeing up this time for classes of interest. I think many teachers will agree with me here - with a classroom system of teaching, time is not always used efficiently. A lot of time is taken away by violators of discipline, the need to reach out to each student in the class. When studying externally, all these difficulties are eliminated. External means the help of the school and teachers, quarter control and exams in each class

2. Education in the parent group. More controversial for many education, because often professional teachers do not take part in the education of children. In this case, parents or a group of parents themselves develop a program for children, prepare didactic materials, organize the learning process and the presentation of material in their own way. Very often, under such a system, several families gather and share the items that they could cover among themselves. This method often involves a more hands-on approach to learning, with children often learning in themed weeks, gradually covering more and more of the material. Parents often approach education creatively. It is this unstructured way of teaching that causes a lot of criticism from homeschooling critics. They find this approach too practical, limiting the child's abilities.

3. Modular learning. With this approach, learning cannot be called 100% at home, since only part of the learning takes place at home. Modular learning often occurs in middle and high school, when the child has already more or less decided on the choice of profession. If the school cannot provide the opportunity to study some subjects on the basis of the school, or the material is not presented as deeply as required for admission and further education. In such a situation, parents often organize the child's education in such a way that he studies part of the material at home, part - when attending lectures in colleges and institutes (you can enroll the child in one or two subjects of your choice) More directed training gives the student additional motivation - he knows why he studies a particular subject. There is a desire to understand complex issues, not to give up when difficulties arise.

The options described above are the most common today in Western countries. But home education is not limited to these subjects. Home schooling is not always given entirely at the mercy of parents without any outside control. In Singapore, for example, a child cannot be transferred to home schooling without a program previously approved by the Ministry of Education. Parents must develop and submit a program. If it is approved, the child can study at home and take final exams at the end of elementary school (grade 6) and high school.

There are many critics of homeschooling. Skeptics are prejudiced about the quality of education under such conditions. They say that children do not have socialization, lack the skills of learning and working in a group, that children grow up as individualists, unable to build relationships with the people around them.

However, supporters of home education do not lose heart. Many experts note a decrease in the time spent on training, a higher motivation of students. As a result of a freer schedule, children communicate more and their communication is of better quality - after all, they themselves choose the circle of communication, and do not rotate among people imposed on them by the general education system. Children at home schooling have higher self-esteem, they suffer less from complexes caused by peer ridicule with or without reason.

This article is not written to encourage everyone to homeschool their children. It is difficult and almost impossible to implement in large quantities. One of the necessary conditions for such a form of education is a non-working parent who can educate children. In addition, such a parent must understand that he himself will have to learn a lot, learn a lot. And this is not always possible in the conditions of modern life. The article was created in order to give readers the opportunity to get acquainted with alternative approaches to education, to show that education can be carried out not only at school. I also wanted to show that homeschooling is not the way to drop children with health and developmental problems.