The terms homeschooling and homelearning, home schooling and home learning are interchanged sometimes causing confusion.  The BC Ministry of Education distinguishes homeschooling from other home based learning programs and yet if you asked most families who are learning at home they would say they are "homeschooling".  For the sake of clarity, we will attempt to use the term "homeschooling" to refer to students who are "registered" and "homelearners" to the students "enrolled" in a school program, although crossover of terms may continue to appear.

COMMITMENT

Teaching your children at home means commitment, dedication and some sacrifices.  There are many reasons for homeschooling but in the end, parents come to the realization that the best place for their child to learn is in the home.  There is no classroom that can give a child personalized one-on-one attention and teaching.  This burning instinct to teach our own generally is very powerful and is likely there for a good reason. Trust that intuition and have the courage to follow through.   Over 40,000 students currently in BC are learning at home in one form or another. The foundation years of K-grade 3 are wonderful years to teach our children's hearts and minds.  Others are taking their children out the school system because it is not working for them.  Never before have we seen such high number of special needs students pulling out of school to be taught in a home based setting.

LIFESTYLE ADJUSTMENTS

Parents who can make the necessary adjustments with schedules, jobs, and incomes can be successful teachers to their own children.  Research gives evidence that children learn regardless of the level of education the parent has received. The tremendous assortment of curriculums and learning resources available to us today is huge.  The internet opens the world of learning to all of us. Children do not have to be sitting in a school classroom in order to learn.  In fact, school as we know it is a young institution with contrived compulsory grade levels. Do we have to learn about pond life in grade 4 or Shakespeare in grade 10? What if those were learned at other times in a child's lifespan? Being free to learn looks different than "school".

What teaching your own means is that you are with your children many more hours in a day.  There are sacrifices made with your time like not having big chunks of it to yourself.  When you are spending more time with each other, it is a good idea to like each other! You also have alot more time to nurture your child, to teach not only academics but character qualities, and re-enforcing good behavior, attitudes and attributes.

To be successful at teaching your own children there must be respect for one another. Parents are taking on the added responsibility of educating their children and the child must be respectful and receptive for quality learning to happen.  The learning environment must be conducive to learning.  Peaceful, creative, intellectually stimulating and healthy.

Most homeschooling/learning families are single incomes and this can translate into lifestyle adjustments. There is a cost saving on lunches, clothing and school fees when learning at home. Curriculums do not have to be expensive to be effective and families can learn together how to be resourceful in many areas.

WHO CAN DO THIS?

Single parents, single incomes, working moms, gifted child, special needs, traveling, out of country..... the list goes on of who can and are teaching their own.   You can do this.  Are you qualified?  The qualifications are loving your child, knowing your child, and wanting the best for your child.  Being prepared for the commitment it takes and understanding that there will be good days and not so good days.  There will be obstacles. Life keeps happening.  Friends and relatives may not agree with your decision but your child belongs to you, not them. Be prepared to make sacrifices and seek to encourage your child to be all they can be.  Open doors of learning and opportunity to them that they otherwise may not have if they were not at home.