The last two months have made me question why anyone would actually choose to home school their children. In Zimbabwe, there are many people who cannot afford private schooling and, with the standard of government schools not being anywhere as good as it used to be, have decided to home school their children. I can understand this reasoning completely, but I don't feel that I would actually choose it if cost wasn't an option.
In my experience as a teacher, the key to good homeschooling lies with the parent/s. It is something you have to take very seriously and treat as you would a job. What I have seen, especially when I worked in Zambia, is parents who are trying to do another job and be the teacher, so the children are left on their own for long periods to teach themselves or told to just read a book or do a maths worksheet. Inevitably, there are huge gaps in their learning.
There are also some rather dodgy home-schooling courses out there, like ones that provide multiple choice question papers at the end of a module and require no writing at all. The absence of a real teacher, as opposed to tutor who marks your mark and sends it back with a few suggestions, also makes a remarkable difference. A number of people I know whose children are home schooled say they spend a fortune on extra lessons and running their children between lessons is also time consuming and expensive.
The worst thing for both Sian and Ellie has been not seeing their friends on a daily basis, working more or less in isolation and not being able to play sport or take part in activities. i just hope we get back to normal school life as soon as possible.
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