Gypsy Camp Blog

It’s difficult to strike a balanced tone when speaking of reasons people choose to home school their children. In our day to day lives, it’s common to happen upon discussions which reflect only one point of view be it on the radio, on television, in classrooms, in our own homes. Unfortunately most major issues are simply too large to tackle from the middle of the road and so people take a side and battle from that position. That said, it’s fair to say there are very good schools available to most all US citizens, places wherein children can get a quality education. Of course, there are others and it may be these others that has lead so many to educate their own children, in their own way.

While many have chosen to educate their kids, an honest discussion needs to take place within each parent’s self. This is a fresh approach, a sincere approach to improving the home school child’s life. The message is straight forward, it’s purposely honest and lacking in soft, passive tones. Parents who have chosen to educate their own, deserve the respect this tone imparts: matter of fact, simple, non-labeling or blaming, a voice of aid.

Each person has an area or areas of strength and each has areas of weakness. If the parent/educator can be honest with his or herself and recognize the weaknesses, there are some great opportunities to augment the home school child’s education.

In observing home school children, the most common deficiency in their home school experience is the socialization aspect. This is socialization on a global scale. Learning from experience, experientially, takes place daily just by being in and about the world at hand. Slam a hand in a door, learn not to close door while hand is in there. Our world is filled with rules, structure, it’s how we are able to function without stepping on one another, both figuratively and literally.

Our lives are governed by rules, nothing we do if free from guidelines. From the mundane to the spectacular there are expectations of how we’re to comport ourselves: in a library, better be quiet. As a home school parent/educator, one must be hyper-cognizant of getting the home school child into the world, out of the house. For kids that go to school, thi is one of the main benefits, they’re learning rules of life. Home school children can get this experience, school’s don’t hold exclusivity rights but parent/educators must make concerted efforts make it so.

If learning to be in groups and work in and around people out in the world is global-socialization, then the more specific and much needed socialization is peer-socialization. There are many benefits to home schooling, especially when comparing the ability to drill down and really focus on core subjects; however, the biggest gap in home school child development is peer-to-peer socialization. Parent/educators are recognizing this more and more and groups of home school children go on field trips together etc. In a school setting though, kids are receiving hours of peer socialization day in and day out, 9 months of the year. Therefore, this is an area the parent/educator must be especially sensitive and aware.

Conversely, it appears whatever may lack in the time spent socializing is more than made up for in the core subjects. Spend a few minutes with a home schooled child and one will be surprised with the depth of understanding in core subjects. Spend time with a few different home schooled children and the surprise quickly fades, it becomes expected. This result is why so many parents turn to home schooling.

So, what can parent/educators do to improve the schooling provided their kids? Take time to augment the learning with subjects and experiences outside of the core education courses. In many ways the advantage to provide incredible learning experiences is in the home school parent/educator’s favor. School can take place on the parent’s terms, in a place of the parent’s choosing. This allows for tremendous diversity: zoos, live theater, construction sites, bakeries, galleries, news papers, local businesses etc., all offer incredible learning experiences. Being the home school parent, party of very few, one can impose on these areas, ask questions and use the place to teach about life and how school ties into life after school. Create opportunities to get the child exposed to the world. take advantage of the incredibly brave decision made to home school.

As we conclude the first part of this mini-series on how to get most from the home school decision, one tip to achieving all three points above. Parents can look to getting a group of home schoolers together and enroll the lot of them into an experiential education based program. Outdoor education centers will provide this. It’s good to get the kids into these types of programs once or twice a year for concentrated periods of time. Camps are excellent for this.

Look for a camp that focuses on outdoor eduction and or experiential education. If the camp is noting experiential education, that’s excellent. At this point you need only make sure you’re comfortable with the company. These programs will take the kids from a few days to a few weeks. You’ll address everything mentioned above and everything addressed in the next segment of this series: greater socialization as the kids learn the rules and boundaries of the new environment, peer-socialization as they come together to form a community, a new little society and they will learn a variety about themselves and the environment by being in an outdoor setting, challenging themselves and interacting with staff.

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