Do you not learn in home education?
Error/ShutterStock
Many families who have made a decision to study as part of home education, set out happy and motivated with energy and a lot of motivation for their new path.
Along with the excitement, there are background voices from the near and far environment, family and friends, neighbors and acquaintances who voice their opinion on the decision, these voices range from absolute support and great appreciation to misgivings and slanted looks that stem from a lack of knowledge and are fed by myths and prejudices about home education.
Myths about home education
"You don't learn in home education"
- a mistake.
The agenda in home education is very intense and packed with meaningful and non-routine learning.
If we define "learning" as a process in which there is internalization and absorption of new information, improvement of skills and new experiences that lead to growth and development, then home education is an education model that leads to meaningful learning that surpasses any existing model.
There is a tendency to get confused and think that learning takes place through literary means only, because this is the conditioning we are used to in the normal study frameworks and the means by which learning is tested, but in home education, significant learning takes place that breaks the boundaries of traditional learning that gives confidence and nurtures an independent learner.
"Homeschooled children have no friends"
- on the contrary.
Children in home education have lots of friends, they meet regularly with multi-age groups, these are age groups where there are children slightly younger than them and slightly older than them.
The meetings take place in nature, in the home garden, at home and are not limited by time or a ring that alerts you to the end of the meeting, they include shared meals, games of various kinds, organized or spontaneous activities, animals and the wider family, the children keep in touch through the media and continue to play together even from home in games computer.
The home school members celebrate birthdays, parties and holidays together, participate in classes together and are one big family whose spaces shape the relationships within it.
"Home education is a marginal trend"
- not anymore.
In recent years, home education has become an active stream and an inviting and quality alternative for learning and growth in the community.
In 2019, the Ministry of Education published a report from which it can be learned that in the decade up to 2019, until then, there was an increase of hundreds of percent in the number of requests for home education. With the outbreak of the Corona crisis, there was a quantum jump in the demand for home education, and an arrangement and corrections to the circulars of the CEO that came out on the matter began in order to streamline The handling of the wave of requests that was created and the amount of requests that have been approved since then puts home education in Israel on the map and creates a new record in demand for it.
Home education has become a natural choice for the stream as an education that cultivates an independent and valuable graduate who has a tremendous contribution to education and the community.
"In home education you learn what you want"
- True, at the same time the home education is supervised and a home visit is conducted once a year.
In home education, one learns with love or one does not learn at all, there is a tendency to think that what one does out of love and choice, is unnecessary or a waste of time, that others should decide for us what is good and what I am good at.
In the study program that is approved for home education, the parents determine the study content and the agenda in addition to the core subjects, with the assumption that if the child likes it, he will be good at it and want more of it.
The products of home education are the learning products, such as: planting, working in the garden, picking mushrooms, observing, experimenting, dancing, coloring, building, programming, editing, condensing, typing, etc., they are distinct educational activities, the collection of the products of these activities is Your study results.
Homeschooling parents are asked to present study results at the end of the year, in order to give an idea of the academic activities and the state of being in the study framework in which the child is staying.
That is why it is true that in home education you learn what you want based on the assumption that the curriculum you prepared was prepared with love and from the consideration that it promotes the child and contributes to his development.
Home education is not suitable for everyone, just as democratic, Montessori, anthroposophical and ultra-Orthodox education is not/ShutterStock
"In home schooling you don't approach matriculation"
- a big mistake.
In home education, there is the possibility of obtaining a full matriculation and even studying at the same time as a degree or accumulating academic credits, at the same time as the course of high school studies.
To access matriculation, students in home education open an external file at the Ministry of Education and the grade received will be based only on the matriculation test, without a protective grade.
In addition, there are colleges and academic tracks, which allow you to enroll in courses that provide credits for a degree.
The Open University has paved the way for high school students in the track to convert matriculation, this is a study track that allows you to accumulate academic courses in 18 subjects instead of going to matriculation in some subjects.
Many colleges hold a dialogue with homeschooling parents who are interested in opening study tracks and integrating their children into academic studies, at the same time as high school studies.
Who is it suitable for?
For students with a mature character, self-discipline, self-taught, who are not interested in school subjects and the academy enchants them and suits their learning style, the contents it offers are interesting and the approach to them is different. Therefore, not only in home education is there a possibility of obtaining a full matriculation, but much more than that. "Home-schooled children are in educational gaps" - on the contrary, home-schooled students are more accomplished. All the studies that have been done in the world so far regarding academic achievements and academic skills among home-schooled children show that
they
are in a positive gap and exceed in their achievements the students of formal settings. According to a study published by Collom and Michael Collom, E., & Mitchell, DE (2005). - The achievements of the home school students in reading, arithmetic and language were tested in a national standard test from grade 2 to 11 and it was found that they exceed the national average.
In another study by Blok (Henk) from 2004, we looked at the basic studies in the regular curriculum and found that the home school students exceeded their school peers in their achievements and in another of his studies, no differences were found between the groups. Many other studies support the fact that the achievements of home schooled children surpass their friends from school, although they are not necessarily aimed at continuing academic studies.
"You cannot complete 12 years of schooling in home education"
- a complete mistake. Children who are only interested in studying a profession or whose academic future is unclear and are now not available to study for a matriculation certificate for various reasons, can at the end their studies in preparation for the recruitment, to receive a certificate of completion attesting to 12 years of study, the approval is conditioned on the fact that the studies as part of the home education throughout the period, were approved by the Ministry of Education and the child did receive an exemption from the compulsory schooling law in these years. As mentioned, for those who wish to earn more, it can be seen that in the home education It is also possible to obtain a full matriculation certificate and credits for the degree. This track is suitable not only for those who are not available for a matriculation certificate, but also for those who have decided that their self-definition is not determined by eligibility for a matriculation certificate, have acquired a profession in a private track or have a practical orientation that is not academic.
"Graduates of home education do not join the army"
- a big mistake.
Graduates of home schooling enlist in the army like any high school graduate in the State of Israel, they receive summonses for recruitment and go through the process without any difference between them and their friends.
The call for recruitment is made according to the age of the student and his year of recruitment, the selection is made according to the results of the psychotechnical tests and tests.
"Homeschooling is for lazy people"
- On the contrary.
Homeschooling requires a lot of diligence, self-discipline, willpower, natural curiosity, time management ability, ability to withstand pressure, patience, and leaving the comfort zone.
The ability to manage ourselves within a time frame without external policing and supervision, without ringing or reminders, with confidence, without fences, gates or geographical boundaries, knowing within ourselves where to draw the line, when it's enough, how to end, how to build new relationships independent of an adult, How to resolve conflicts maturely, in home education you get out of your comfort zone and become people who are managed within frameworks to people who manage the environment and knowledge according to their natural areas of knowledge and interest.
This is diligence of the first order, a choice that requires courage, perseverance, willpower, ambition and the ability to conduct oneself in situations of uncertainty.
"Homeschooling is an Israeli invention"
- no and no.
Homeschooling is a recognized choice all over the world, it is an international community that creates branch connections, joint activities, experiences, knowledge, ideas and tools for growth and development.
Homeschooling parents in the world are highly regarded and the regulation of the choice differs from country to country, in some the option is technical and very easy to carry out and in others the preliminary requirements are more complex.
Researchers who analyzed the trend of home education in the world collected data about the extent of the phenomenon, according to a report given by researchers Redford and Bielick (Redford, Battle & Bielick, 2017), it was reported that in 2012 only 1,773,000 students between the ages of 5-17 studied in the United States, Ray (Ray, 2018 ), another researcher points out that in 2016, 2.3 million students were already homeschooled, while in the entire world, homeschoolers make up a percentage of all students of compulsory age, and this rate has been increasing in all countries of the world since the Corona crisis.
"Home school children live in a bubble" - a complete mistake.
Technology is one of the most important means of creating a social network and updating trends, trends and innovations in the world. Homeschooled children in the world are connected to all the latest trends, trends, technological and educational innovations in all fields of knowledge for the simple reason that they are researchers by nature and have direct and independent access to all sources of information at all hours of the day, without Dependence on a school time system, without the time limit, resources and access to information as known in school. Homeschooled children taste all the worlds and are very knowledgeable about the information that flows through technological means and social platforms according to their age, are aware of the dangers and the caution required in online conduct, they participate in various competitions and manage relationships With friends from all over the world, they develop life skills and cultivate areas of thought that go beyond the fields of study at school that create demand and collaborations with friends, such as photography, art, design, programming, editing and more.
Therefore, the children in home education do not live in a bubble, the opposite is true, they are like fish living in an infinite ocean of possibilities.
In conclusion,
home education is not suitable for everyone, just as democratic, Montessori, anthroposophical and ultra-Orthodox education is not.
However, just as each one of them has a contribution to the overall fabric of human society and the community, just as these have gradually gained recognition for the uniqueness they bring, arousing curiosity and a slow and lengthy familiarization process, so is the familiarity with home education breaking into the public consciousness in recent years.
The reason that the human environment does not automatically support the choice of home education stems mainly from a lack of knowledge and familiarity and from the habit of following a pattern.
One of the burdens that a homeschooling parent must carry with love is the explanation of his choice of homeschooling, in recent years there has been a transformation in the attitude and attitude towards this choice and there is still room for awareness that this is a conscious and informed choice that has many more opportunities than the ones the system offers to children, it is demanding and courageous and every parent in schooling the home
Every homeschooling parent is an ambassador of this choice and part of a family that grew up following the change in consciousness and attitude towards it.
The author is Galit Elroy, who has a BA in management and development of educational systems from the University of Haifa and a master's in public policy from the University of Tel Aviv, accompanies parents in the home education process, pedagogical supervisor and consultant for academic studies, children's author, poet and creator.
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