Lessons about homeschooling in Guyana - from the conversation

 
 
Candice Ramessar led a conversation about home schooling in Guyana. The conversation was on 15 August, 2020. 
 
There was a lot of discussion about education, education and the economy, credentials, getting a job, about the learning styles, the oppression in the current system, the need for varieties of testing such as oral and other non-written methods, how to bypass the system, and that home schooling should not be seen as a way out of changing a systemic problem related to schooling for a progressive society which values all human beings.
 
These are some of the things I learned from the conversation, noted from a presentation which Candice also shared.
 
What is homeschooling ?
 Home schooling or home education is NOT bringing the school home and trying to replicate the school system in your house.  The definition which was shared is "is the education of children at home, typically by parents or by tutors, rather than in other formal settings of public or private school. 
 
The common theme in the home school philosophies of both Holt and the Moores is that:
 
“home education should not be an attempt to bring the school construct into the home, or a view of education as an academic preliminary to life... They viewed it as a natural, experiential aspect of life that occurs as the members of the family are involved with one another in daily living.”
Home schooling is a legal option for parents in many countries, allowing them to provide their children with a learning environment as an alternative to public or private schools outside the individual's home.


Why people consider home schooling ?
Covid-19 has closed schools and forced parents to teach children at home. Reasons other than Covid include :-
  • concern about the school environment (school toilets are dirty, no water )
  • to provide religious or moral instruction 
  • dissatisfaction with academic instruction at public and private schools

You should only home school your children if :-
  • you want your children's education to focus on "critical thinking, communication, collaboration, creativity"
  • you recognise that your children are individuals , with different learning styles and you are not stressed out about exam results
  • you are willing to learn and unlearn and relearn, no matter how much education you already have
  • you like to spend time with your children
  • you are passionate and motivated about home schooling
  • you value your children's education and are willing to advocate for the State to provide the resources to support home education and home schooling
  • you don't beat children because they "not learning their book"

You are willing to learn about the different education methods, philosophies and paradigms eg

• Classical education
• Charlotte Mason education
• Montessori method
• Theory of multiple intelligences 

  • Unschooling

• Radical Unschooling
• Waldorf education
• School-at-home
 

Homeschooling has two existing movements: – loosely structured homeschooling and – highly-structured homeschooling .   

The child's learning style should be determined. Some of the tools to determine the learning style include :-


 The benefits of home schooling:
  • Parents focus on what children are interested in and customize the curriculum - child centred
  • Parents can know their Child's strengths and weaknesses. 
  • More 1 on 1 time. 
  • More praise for succeeding which encourages the child. (eg. if child is not good at Maths and is good at music.. do you hire a music tutor or a Maths tutor? )
  • Less emphasis on subjects that don’t matter.
  • Help from other advanced home school parents.

Cost of home schooling

  • depends on how much you want to spend (there are free resources available )
  • most parents start off with a full curriculum package
  • lessens with experience of the educators

 Home schooling in Guyana

  • Will be made easier as Guyana becomes a society which is open to  individuality, self-expressions etc
  • Can benefit from sunshine all year round- learning outdoor and in open spaces
  • Has lots of natural spaces especially good for STEAM Learning and natural laboratory (Biomimicry)  
    (A man in the discussion said he wants to convert some land he has to create a space for this kind of lab )

 So people don't have to send their children to school?

  • The US for example has some horrible cases of child abuse where the parents had registered the children for home schooling.  Home schooling has to be monitored and resourced as any other schooling.
  • Guyana could follow St Vincent and the Grenadines  (Section 112 of their Education Act 2006 details how home education will be done and monitored by the Chief Education Officer ) and other countries who see home schooling as a valid alternative
  • Home school associations and home school co-ops help parents to share resources, and also provide social contacts outside of the family. No parent should do this alone.
 
 Other resources shared in the discussion :-
People agreed that there are a lot of resources available on the Internet, and that some of these could also be provided for families without Internet access.

 The Kurzgesagt Playlist with videos on science, philosophy 
 
Harvard University studies on early childhood education
https://fee.org/articles/harvard-study-shows-the-dangers-of-early-school-enrollment/
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/02/early-learning/
 
Jitsi Meetup for free meetings with no limits on time
 
Education is a Practice of Freedom 
 
 Outdoors Kindergarten which lets kids be kids
 
(TV Interview on Homeschooling in Jamaica )
 
Candice also had resources to share - including a model for an African micro-school; and tools to use Minecraft to teach at home.
 
Just do it!
Some parents have been thinking of home schooling, but worried about the Ministry of Education and other things (before Covid - 19).. people said to just go ahead and get started!  
 
People agreed to network to keep the conversation going and to provide support.

Candice can be contacted via email on schoolingathomegy@gmail.com.

Header Image by Shafin Al Asad Protic from Pixabay

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