Since we're all in Back-To-School mode ...

Funky Monkey's random drawings

...let's talk about Home Schooling. So what is Home School? Homeschooling is alternative method of education. Let me clarify something, by alternative I don't mean weird or odd, I mean it's not the standard form of sending your kids to an educational institution to get education. I truly believe that Home-school is a misnomer in itself. A lot of "home-schooling" is neither "schooling" in traditional meaning of the word nor does it mostly happen at home. For many home-schoolers learning happens not just in their homes, but outside, in a park for example, in classes taken by their kids, at grandma's house, by the seashore, and many other places. I like using the word "learning" as opposed to "schooling" since "schooling" implies that there is an instructor or a teacher that feeds information to the student, making it more passive way of obtaining information where as "learning" implies an active role that the student plays in gathering and absorbing knowledge. Learning is what most home-schoolers do. If I was the one naming this form of education I would gladly call it "Out-of-school-learning." Unfortunately the term is already coined as "home-schooling" so for the purpose of keeping everyone sane I will keep the term (although I still think it's a misnomer).

Girly Monkey and Little Money
taking a class together

   Here, in British Columbia, there are 2 ways that one can choose to have their kids learn out of school; one way is to enroll them in Distance Learning, and another one is the register them in Homeschooling program.  So what is the difference?
There are 2 main differences:
 - Distance Learning follows the provincial curriculum at home but you get credit for doing the work. What is means is that you do the same work that you would in classrooms, except at your own pace and at home. The benefit is that at the end of finishing grade 12 you will finish with provincially recognized High School diploma. The drawback is that someone else still dictated what your kids will learn and when. It fits in most with academically inclined students that learn easily by reading instructions in a book and excel at tests and quizzes.

Backyard explorations

Butterfly meeting

 - Homeschool program in BC allows for parents to choose the curriculum that fits their family, belief system, or abilities. The benefit of this system is that it allows for much flexibility in teaching. The province basically states that the government has faith in parents ability to educate their own kids, and that they believe that parents will make sure that they do everything in their power to provide their kids with knowledge necessary to grow into productive and functioning members of the society. The drawback of this system is that at the end of grade 12 (or what parents deem as grade 12 equivalent) the student does not get a High School diploma. This could prove a bit tricky if a child decided that they want to go to post secondary institution to further their education. It's not that it's impossible, it might just mean that everyone has to be a bit creative in applying for college or university. This program is best suited for kids that are very motivated to learn on their own, that get bored with standard curriculum, or kids with special need that do better when learning at their own pace.

Soccer lessons

   As you can see, both systems have benefits and drawbacks to them. Each family usually chooses s system of educating their kids based on many factors. So why did we choose Home-schooling? Check out my next post to find out!