Growing interest in home schooling

AS THOUSANDS of pupils across the country headed back to school yesterday, some parents opted for home schooling instead.

Yandiswa Xhakaza, the chief executive of Nal’ibali’s “reading for enjoyment” campaign, said some parents were comfortable with that decision.

“Whatever their decision, we need to respect the right of parents to choose in this situation. Those who will not be sending their children back to school will have to commit to teaching them. In order to make it work, you would ideally need a smart device, stable internet access, a printer and time.

“Try to negotiate working hours with your employer. You could start your day at 10am to enable teaching from 7.30am or 8am. I strongly recommend mornings for teaching and learning, and not afternoons or evenings. Once these are in place, parents need to be structured in terms of what they will teach, and they need to have a very good understanding of the outcomes for the specific term, per subject,” Xhakaza said.

She recommended that parents who wanted to keep their children home but were pressed for time, focus on developing children’s literacy skills as literacy underpinned all learning.

Chirani Meyer, from Lockdown Schooling SA, said they had seen a significant increase in the number of parents joining their group and inquiring about educating children at home.

“The main concern seems to be that parents feel it won’t be safe for their children to return to school at this stage, due to Covid-19. Other parents have lost their jobs and can’t afford the school fees.”

Meyer said many parents had indicated that they would feel more comfortable sending their children back to school at a later stage.

“A major concern for parents choosing to home school their children is, will the pupils have a place in the schools when they return, and will they will be held back or repeat the grade they are in?”