Homeschooling is rising in popularity. While the number of homeschoolers in India doesn’t range higher than 15,000 (according to the HSLDA-Home School Legal Defense Association), there has been a gradual growth of homeschoolers in the metropolitan cities of Bangalore, Pune, and Mumbai. Some parents have adopted this unconventional way of education as they find themselves capable of inculcating values and knowledge that a classroom can provide and fails to provide as well.
What Do They Study?
Even though a homeschooler’s day isn’t laid out on a time table, they do follow a syllabus that is provided by the State, Central, or International Educational Boards (NCERT, CBSE, ICSE, and IGCSE). Their subjects range from math, science, art, health, history, geography, so on and so forth. In addition to these, they can also take up literally any other skill- for instance, playing the violin, sketching, calligraphy, dancing, etc. The biggest advantage is the flexibility of hours.
What Is The Assessment Method For Homeschooling?
Exams. Yes, homeschoolers have to give exams too. Again, parents have the liberty of the content and structure of the paper. In case of public examination like in 10th Grade, children can enroll themselves as an independent candidate with State, Center, or International Board and write it along with the rest of the enrolled students.
The reason most parents are skeptical about the Homeschooling approach is the lack of knowledge, and myths surrounding the concept.
Here are the most common myths about homeschooling:
Myth #1: Home-schooled children turn out to be anti-social freaks and have a hard time making friends:
This myth can be a concern for most parents and understandably so, however it stems from the wrong perception of homeschooling where they imagine a child locked away in the comfortable walls of a home, detached from the outside world. Some think children who are homeschooled have no other means of making friends as friendships start from social institutions like a school.
However, relationships are far more dynamic than that. A homeschooled child can finish his lessons by afternoon and get out in the evening to play with other kids. As far as the concern for a child turning out to be antisocial, that can happen even in case of a school going, kid. And if a child does have problems mingling with his peers or is reserved by nature, in a home school setting you can give the child (your child) personal attention which becomes impossible in case of a classroom filled with sixty kids.
Homeschooled children can and do participate in team sports and pursue any skill of their interest. They find their tribe and thrive with it.
Myth #2 No college will accept homeschooled children:
Colleges are no longer looking for just 90% and A-grade scorers, but tend to focus more on portfolios that showcase their skills, interests, and work experience. As for applying for competitive exams such as NEET, JEE, NAT, SET, UPSC, etc., these can be answered by not just school going kids but homeschooled kids as well. Today, many homeschooled kids after their 10-grade exams opt into their local colleges and then pursue the rest of their education formally.
Others find their talent early on and decide to make a career out of it by directly starting to work or take up internships in their field of interest while attending distance learning programs of various reputed colleges like IGNOU, Symbiosis, and even international colleges like Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, or the University of Oxford in the UK, etc.
Homeschooled kids are welcomed with open arms not only due to their academic inclinations but also because their portfolios are found to be more diverse. As they are learning through a system that has flexible hours, doesn’t encourage homework, and rather encourages skill-based work, they tend to have a lot of time to pick up various community-based projects, learning new skills, etc.
Myth #3 Homeschoolers don’t learn anything:
A study conducted by the Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science found that homeschooled children tend to score better in standardized tests and continue to do better even after they get enrolled in a formal form of the education system.
A homeschooled child can progress according to their intellect and not as per the syllabus layout by a system that more times than not, fails to recognize a child’s potential and capability. Many parents now know that schools can’t always ensure optimal learning.
While there are many factors contributing to that problem, the most relevant and unfortunate one is the lack of resources like time, material, and infrastructure. With the distribution of already meager resources among a class of sixty and the divided attention of the teacher, it can’t be cast aside as the perfect system for a child. On top of that, the lack of importance given to creativity and the liberty to explore what they want can’t be expected out of a system that was designed in the time of the industrial revolution to churn out workers and not thinkers.
Now that India has scaled the chart to acquire the position of the 4th worst-hit country in this pandemic, our life has taken a major shift from offline to online. Given the state of matters, it appears that this will stay the same for a while. This disruption will be faced by almost all forms of industries, especially the education sector.
However, the only one that will strive in the new normal of webinars and online learning is the homeschooling community. On one end we have formal education systems that will have to and are moving their classrooms online. But due to a lack of experience, they are going to face challenges – both, financial and technical; they will have to alter their ways of teaching to fit the current times. All in all, this transition for them isn’t going to be a smooth one. On the other hand, we have the homeschooling sector whose genesis is learning from home. Their syllabus, way of teaching, imparting knowledge has been designed and altered to fit this outlandish new normal. Accessibility too, no longer the issue as there is an abundance of guidance material for the child and the home teacher available just a click away.
Will the current situation lead to a boom in the homeschooling industry?
If that happens will it be a growth born out of concern for safety or the cracks in our seemingly perfect education system?
Nice article Soumya. Keep it up.
Nice article Soumya. Keep it up.