Dheeksha.r@news4children.com
With schools closed and children cooped up at home, parents are faced with unforeseen challenges due to covid19. As there are no hopes of schools reopening in the near future, parents are resorting to homeschooling their children.
Homeschooling children especially from age 2 years to 10 years is quite a challenge as it is considered as formative years. Every parent wants to guide their children in the right direction.
The concept of homeschooling in India is not widespread, but it was gaining importance in recent years. With Covid19 parents are left with no other choice than resorting to homeschooling, as it is safe.
Getting started with homeschooling during coivd19
With schools closed almost everyone is forced to resort to homeschooling in some way or the other. Online classes are conducted by schools, but by and large children are left at parents guidance.
Especially for children from age 4 to 10, even online classes are for limited time. For instance, for a 5 year old child, in UKG, normally used to spend 4 hours in school. Now, they have 30-40 mins online class once a week with assignments allotted throughout the week. Each school has their own online classes schedule. However, they definitely cannot have long hours of online classes for younger children.
There is a real need for parents to realign themselves as well as children to homeschooling until the schools reopen and interested parents can continue to do so even after things come back to normal.
A big and first step for parents moving from regular schooling to homeschooling is accepting the current situation and realigning their schedule as well as children to do homeschooling.
Making time-table for Homeschooling
One of the benefit of homeschooling is if the child is grasping concepts well, parents can very well go beyond the prescribed school curriculum. So it all depends on the child.
While homeschooling, one can organise a day according to their convenience. There is no stringent routine to follow as its done while going to regular school. Schooling time, routine of the child, activities can be planned according to parent and child convenience. Sometimes, while talking and explaining to your child, one can end up doing a simple science experiment or read a book or watch a short video to explain a ‘WHY’ as and when possible. It all depends on parents and child enthusiasm. There is no hard and fast rules. Homeschooling is learning through out the day.
According to Jamie Martin, homeschooler and author of Steady Days: A Journey Toward Intentional, Professional Motherhood, the structure of the day depends on the educational philosophy a homeschooling family chooses. “There are wide array of educational philosophies exists. These methods include Waldorf, Montessori, Charlotte Mason, classical, leadership education, interest-led learning, unit study, and more. Homeschoolers have the freedom to blend ideas that best meet their children’s needs,” Jamie Martin writes in parents.com.
Parents who were accustomed to sending their children to school are used to the traditional system of textbooks, writing and activities provided by school. As children cannot get out of the house, homeschooling has to be made interesting for them. So, along with school activities, parents now can take the opportunity to blend ideas and make homeschooling fun and interesting for children.
Curriculum planning for Homeschooling
Every parent is looking at the option of homeschooling are also frantically searching for resources as well.
There is plethora of homeschooling curriculum and resources available online. Below are few links for the same:
- Best homeschooling resources online
- Download and create study planner
- Guide to plan homeschooling
- How to Plan Your Homeschool Curriculum in 5 Easy Steps
- How To Start Homeschooling – A Beginner’s Guide: Planning Your Year
Is homeschooling legal in India?
Although, homeschooling exists in India for quite sometime now, but there is no provision to register with any government authority. It is not illegal.
Homeschoolers usually follow the CBSEC curriculum or curriculum of their respective states. Homeschoolers can appear for board examination conducted by NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling) after the age of 14 years or IGCSE International General Certificate of Secondary Education) examination, which is an internationally recognised qualification for secondary students.
Homeschoolers can take up 10th and 12th grade CBSE exams as a private student.
While there are no clear data on students being taught at home, experts in the field believe that around 15,000 families in the country have chosen to homeschool their kids, according to India Today report.
Homeschool groups India
Swashikshan Indian Association of Homeschoolers
Christian Homeschoolers in India (join group for access)
Bangalore homeschoolers group facebook page
Source: HSLDA.
(1) Parents.com
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