Academic research to settle wobbly knees - on starting home education

I am really excited about starting learning concurrently with my two little ones (who are actually screaming at each other as I write). It is as much a process for me to learn how to facilitate their learning, as learning new things that I ought to have learned at school (human biology was never my strong point!). There is no shame attached to what I'm about to say - it was only a matter of days ago when I learnt the English word 'platelet' as its equivalent in Chinese, which I had known since I was a child. And that was because I was reading the blood issue of 'Okido' kids' magazine with my 4 year old.

While I have been through higher education, discovering my own ability to self-teach for a set purpose without following a pre-designed, accredited course is a first. For my children to become autonomous learners, I believe, is a key factor for me to home educate my children at least for a while, if not throughout their school years. I would like them to learn to speak and write in my mother tongue, as Chinese is becoming and is likely to be equip a 21st century person well. There is a sentimental dimension of my wanting to be able to converse with my children in my own language and for them to be able to reply in the same language - not only can they get to know their extended family (who mostly speak Chinese) more intimately, knowing the Chinese language will also help them understand their ethnic culture in a way that surpasses what can be appreciated by overseas-born Chinese children who are unable to read in the language. Indeed, there is much that is 'lost in translation'. A die-hard fan of ancestry programmes like the BBC's 'Who Do You Think You Are?', I think that there is much to be said about the enriching experience of knowing where one comes from and how one connects with the historical past, either in local history, national history, or as a tiny little part of world events. Knowing the Chinese language has to be part of this enriching experience of knowing where one comes from.

As for me, the academic challenge of understanding educational research into various styles of home education, and the practicalities of bringing home education into reality, is rather a daunting but welcoming one. I almost don't know where to start - learning styles of children, Steiner education, Mason education, Summerhill ... it's a whole load to learn and sift out for our own educational purposes. And here I am - having just discovered an extra 10 newly joined member e-mails sitting in my inbox from the Kent and London Home Educators' E-group. Happy reading to me!!

There's nothing better than starting at the beginning. Paula Rothermel, phD., wrote her doctoral thesis on home education in the UK and I have just browsed through her shorter articles. She produced surprising findings on the number of less educated parents choosing to home educate, when the stereotypical home ed parent (at least in my mind until fairly recently) is the middle class well educated professional family that can afford to live on one income or two part-time incomes combined. Heartening to know that home educated children do better than their reception age peers in their first year of 'formal education'. More to follow.

On the verge of a new adventure

I wouldn't have thought that having two young children under 4 would compell me to read online research articles and academic books. But as life (not fate!) will have it the question of how best to home educate the children has made me look closely at the pedagogy of the arts in early years education.

Now, is it kosher for a home educating mother to look at research materials based on the classroom setting? The dilemma that still troubles me, if only a little, is the burst of creative discussion that a group of young children can have which can contribute towards interesting learning situations. But in truth I am not confident that it is to be found in every primary school classroom the majority of the time. Another objection that I often hear from well meaning people is how home educating parents could be depriving children of socialisation available in schools. To that I would say, how did children use to learn and make friends before the age of state education? Large families, playing with neighbours' children and spending time with non-peers was much more likely. Nowadays it is little valued the act of children learning from trustworthy adults other than their own parents, it seems, unless they are paid to do the job. How about youngsters
volunteering at the local city farm or helping their parents with visiting the sick or the vulnerable in the local community? Surely that is not inferior to children being ferried from school to afterschool class, or worse, from class to class on weekends? There are more learning spaces than classes alone.

Anyway it is on the premise about finding out more about early years education in art and the arts that I googled for academic articles. This seems to be almost as fascinating as watching my children reach their own little epiphanies almost on a daily basis. Being able to dip into existing research into education that would feed into my practice with my children is such a joy! While I don't think only trained teachers (as I am one) can do a good job of home education (as I often hear from people who are reassured of my professional background), to me personally it adds another dimension to our joint adventure together as mother and sons. It is not simply an academic challenge but also a practical one - how do I translate what I read into something that serves my children well? We shall see!

An exploration into homeschooling

Here is a first attempt at my reasons for wanting to try out homeschooling (eventually) with my now 3 and 3 month old. He is already not going to a school-attached nursery, and according to the law of this land he doesn't need to go to school until he turns 5.

Well can I just first say, I'm no fan of the school run. Give me a relaxing start to the day every day, time to talk to the children about their morning thoughts and instructing them about getting ready for the day, rather than anything like a mad rush to pack them off to school. At our mid-terrace home, the official start of the day is no earlier than 8, and we gently warm up to a slow but calm start, breakfast, pottering in the kitchen and helping out, ahead of other things that we plan to do the rest of the day. We are part of a parent-run co-op nursery (which is FANTASTIC, by the way, and I think there ought to be more of those up and down the country), and even the latest time of arrival of 9:45 can only be achieved at a push. My sincere hope is that I won't end up needing the '40 tips to make the school run a piece of cake'.

I deeply enjoy my children's company, although I do not always actively try to engage them in every single daily activity - sometimes it is just as nice seeing them immersed in their own little world of play. And frankly, boredom, in the absence of adult-led turbo-driven entertainment, often generates the greatest creativity. This has to be the first reason for even contemplating home education in the first place. This is not at all a boast and every woman/man thinks differently about their very own children and how much time they would like to spend with them, but from their births they have truly been an extension of me. The choice for me to stay at home to look after them was an easy one for multiple reasons, and I have in most part not regretted it - the fruits are there for all to see, or at least for a doting mother. It is inexplicable the amount of delight there is in seeing them develop, first mostly physically, then gradually visibly in their verbal, cognitive and emotional expressions. And to top that off, to know that to a great degree you have contributed to a large degree to their path of development provides a huge amount of satisfaction.

It is joy for me to see them relish in their surroundings, be it a museum that I have intentionally taken them to (for my own profit or theirs as well), or literally a pile of horse poo that we stumble upon. Woe to those who are met with a resounding silence when they ask their children after a day in school, 'so what did you do today in school?'

I'd much rather there be a gentle awakening of their little individualities and personalities, than the more sudden one that their introduction to long hours of school would require, if they were schooled. Late primary, or secondary school education could still be on the cards, but while they actually enjoy being with mummy, why not keep them by my side?