Think carefully before tackling home-schooling, says NMU prof

Though schools reopened yesterday for grades 7 and 12 pupils, many parents are reluctant to send their children back to class as Covid-19 infections continue to increase.

Basic education minister Angie Motshega reiterated at the weekend that homeschooling was a viable option for parents to consider because of the pandemic.

Nelson Mandela University education professor Nokhanyo Mdzanga, who has homeschooled her autistic 14-yearold son for three years, advised parents to first consider a few factors.

“Parents need to start by asking themselves the reason they want to home-school,” Mdzanga said.

She said parents needed to differentiate between traditional home-schooling, which is often a one-size-fits-all approach and independent learning, which aims to teach children basic life skills.

The latter, which Mdzanga uses for her son, often works better for special needs children whose learning abilities differ from those of children in conventional schools.

“The first step for parents who want to pursue homeschooling based on the school curriculum is to follow the home education policy of the department of basic education, follow the processes involved and comply with regulations.”

The application form and guidelines can be accessed on the official SA government website.

Mdzanga advised parents who wanted to home-school their children to liaise with other parents who had some experience with homeschooling.

“Parents must be warned that should they deregister their children this year, they will have to apply for a space [at school] again next year,” Mdzanga said.

When considering homeschooling, Mdzanga advises parents to ask themselves the following:

● Why do I want to homeschool my child?

● For how long do I want to do it?

● Who will be doing the teaching?

● How much budget will I put aside for this?

● If am doing it myself, how extensive is my knowledge of the subject(s) concerned?

● Do I have an understanding of how children learn and what teaching methodologies to use to enable them to do so?

● Do I have space and resources in my house that will accommodate such learning?

● How will I plan for social interaction and play?

● How will they balance work, household chores and home-schooling?

Mdzanga said parents needed to be mindful of the above and consider hiring a trained tutor for smoother learning.

“The advantage [of homeschooling] is that children work at their pace and learning suits their needs instead of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach,” Mdzanga said.

For her 14-year-old son, she follows a personalised approach independent of the SA schools curriculum standard.

“Autism is a spectrum and, while some autistic children are able to learn and even get to university, there are some, like my son, who can only learn basic teachings in the lower grades,” she said.

Home-learning provider Impaq’s MD, Louise Schoonwinkel, said homeschooling was becoming a more viable option for SA parents.

She said Impaq had enrolled about 3,000 pupils since the start of lockdown.

“The month of April was rather quiet because it was still holidays and people just thought the lockdown would only be for a little while but around mid-May we started getting an influx of inquiries,” Schoonwinkel said.

She said the option to home-school was open to any parent, whether working or at home.

“It is doable but parents have to plan their schedules accordingly and seek the help of a tutor if necessary.

“The advantage of homeschooling is that it is flexible and timetables can be adjusted to suit the family,” she said.

“Making use of a homeschooling service that is aligned with the CAPS curriculum makes it possible for the child to go back into traditional schooling if there is a need.”

Mdzanga also uses her Facebook blog, Seems like it’s my destiny, (https://www.facebook.com/mdznn/) to share her journey as the mother of a child with autism and help other mothers whose children cannot go to school because of a lack of public schools equipped to deal with autistic pupils and the inability to afford private centres.