I’ve had to answer this question so many times……sometimes to seemingly well-meaning people and sometimes to seemingly judgmental or skeptical ones.
I guess homeschooling is not quite the norm in our nation….so more often than not, when the topic of school comes up in conversation, I have to brace myself to answer a lot of questions…..lol!
I think I should actually just write out little pamphlets and keep in my handbag to just dish out every time someone asks about homeschooling because I find that I’m always answering similar questions…haha!
“So, for how many hours do you teach in a day”
“I’m glad you asked….I have a pamphlet with my daily schedule right here”
“So, what about socialisation?”
“I thought you would ask that….let me just reassure you with this one pager that I’ve put together….let me know if you have any further questions after reading it”
Hahaha!! I think it would make my life just a tad easier lol!
Only this time around, I had to answer this question to my 11 year old niece.
I had two of them over recently, I’d taken them to a show at the library. As we were chatting about books and libraries, one of them wanted to know “Why I homeschool?” “When will my kids go to school?” “Will they ever go to a real school?”
It was the first time a child had asked me about homeschooling so I realised I had to actually give the simplest answer, which actually turned out to be what I needed at that moment because it was good to also give myself that answer….to remind myself.
So…why do I homeschool?
Look, there are a whole bunch of reasons I chose homeschooling….as with anything….(post for another day).
This is the answer I gave her: “Because there are different ways we can learn or get an education. Some parents choose for their children to go learn at school, but I’ve chosen for my kids to learn from home. I don’t know whether they will someday attend a “normal school” but what’s important is that they keep on learning…so we will see as times goes on”
Urban Makoti 