The Family and Homeschooling
July 11, 2022 - Written by Dorothy "Louise" BeasleyHomeschooling in the United States & Canada
The National Center For Education Statistics, (NCES, 2005) stated in 2005 that almost 1.1 million children underwent homeschooling in the United States. In the past, homeschooling used to be a radical way to say parents were upset with the current school system. People who declared themselves as Christians decided to remove their children from public schools. They built or opened schools with a Religious background in the 1980s and those schools became legal in every State. The same happened in Canada, although it took longer for homeschooling to become legal all through Canada.
Today, parents of homeschoolers feel the schools are unsafe environments as well as being dissatisfied with the educational values and course materials taught to their children. This is happening in the United States as well as in Canada, raising the question, “Should I homeschool my child?”
Why is homeschooling better? The government school bodies of both the United States and Canada are hearing reports that parents feel the public-school system’s learning techniques are disempowering and superficial. The courses are compulsory, but of little use to the students after they leave the school system and go into the real world. The parents also feel that the schools are unsafe environments for their children.
There are many crimes involving violence such as school shootings, drugs in the schools, damage to personal property, as well as bullying, all negative actions which override the positive aspects of the public schools. (NCES, 2017-2018) A mixed group of people have formed homeschooling factions across North America today, due to do the pros of homeschooling.
According to statistics in the United States, (nheri.org + thinkimpact.com) there were about 3.7 million students homeschooled in 2020-2021 grades K to 12. Homeschooling is on the increase due to the advantages of homeschooling and the parents’ aim is to provide meaningful, fun and beneficial learning through the method that homeschooling brings, which strengthens the bond between the parents and their children- all pros of homeschooling.
I am a grandparent who has 10 grandchildren, two of whom have gone through the school system. 7 of them are still within the Canadian School System, which is not working as it stands now. So, I am able to see why these parents are pulling their children out of the public school systems and reaping the benefits of homeschooling. I have one young grand-daughter who is 4 years old, not in the school system yet, but she is a smart little girl and picks up on everything her older siblings bring home from their peers, as well as from her parents and grandparents. My grand-children are blessed in that they have uncles, aunts, 4 sets of grand-parents and loving parents to support them on a daily basis.
As a grandmother with 46 years of experience cooking for others, and walking the talk through 67 years of life, I would like to add more value to the pros of homeschooling by adding basic life skills to the mix. I do a cooking show online through Zoom that teaches children and their parents how to cook from scratch, meals ready within 30 minutes from start to finish. A home cooked meal that you and your family prepare along with me as your teacher or Grandma Beasley, cooking in her country kitchen for an hour a day. The cooking sessions are recorded once the family becomes a member on the website and they may watch the show again and do up the recipes as wanted, in their own time frame after the live cooking show is finished.
I also teach life skills such as money management techniques that are simple to learn and do on a daily basis, for the parents as well as the children. I also teach about healthy relationships and about building your field of dreams, manifesting what you would love your life to feel and look like, and how to take actionable steps to get there.
