Of course in Kenya, there are many options
to educate and homeschool our children.
There are public schools, private schools,
Montessori schools (This Method was
developed by Dr. Maria Montessori in the early 1900s.
It’s a specific child-centered method of education),
and, of course, the option of homeschooling.
There are advocates of both homeschooling and public schooling.
Those of us who don’t home school, which is still the majority
of Kenyan, if not all need to fully understand the
reasons why people choose to home school their children.
Religious or Philosophical Convictions
Religion is not permitted in public schools.
Many families feel that religion needs to be
a larger part of their child’s education than
that which the public schools allow.
People who have deep religious beliefs show great passion.
These are the individuals who are passionate about
their children’s education and feel that only they
are able to teach them to the best of their ability
and the content that they feel they should be learning.
The homeschooling parent is in charge,
they call the shots and they like it that way.
Socialization
Some people that don’t understand homeschooling
believe that it is confining rather than socializing.
But those individuals that believe that are stuck in
thinking about the stereotypical socialization of
an age-based classroom.
Children that are home-schooled are exposed to
social situations in a mixed age range.
They have age-mates instead of class-mates.
Many homeschoolers feel that their children need
to be exposed to the appropriate ways to behave
not inappropriate.
They feel that their child should be exposed to
the model behavior of people who have learned
to make decisions and handle themselves
in various social settings.
By being exposed to appropriate modeling of social
behavior, home-schooled children will learn how to act appropriately.
Parents of home-schooled children can also see when
their child gets it when they model for a younger child
appropriate behavior.
Homeschool children get a reality-based social lesson.
On a daily basis, they see adults they know,
love and trust management and balance life day today.
Modeled for them are academics balanced with
real-life chores; caring for a sick friend or neighbor,
shoveling the driveway and walkway, doing the grocery
shopping and dropping off the dry cleaning, cooking
dinner while folding laundry, putting laundry away,
and talking on the phone with Aunt Malyun.
These are real-life situations that homeschoolers
are exposed to and public school children are often
sheltered from or are privy to a controlled school environment.
Academics
Homeschoolers have several advantages over publicly schooled children.
The curriculum is designed specifically for them, not for children
their age and what children at a particular age are expected
to know and learn.
Public schools differentiate instruction the best they can.
However, homeschooled child has a curriculum tailored to their needs.
They may read at a 4th-grade level, spell at a 3rd-grade level,
and complete math at a 6th-grade level.
A home-schooled child is neither rushed nor not given enough time.
There are no other children to keep busy so they are free
to work at their pace and move as quickly or as slowly as need be.
Much research has been done on how children learn best.
A homeschooled child is not only taught by the person
who knows them best in the entire world but also since
they are the only student, the learning style never has to be varied. \
If a student learns best through video, then the curriculum of
a home-schooled child can be tailored to meet their needs
so they will be more successful. Also, avoid mistakes
Home-schooled children get to spend more quality time as a family.
They are not trapped in a traditional school setting for 8 hours a
day but are free to spend quality time as a family every day.
It is said that parents are a child’s, first teachers.
Families that home school wants to continue to be their
child’s teacher because they feel that their children need
the guidance of their family and God and
not the guidance of someone hired to do
a job that is naturally theirs from the day their child was born.