Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Home schooling preferred by many parents in small towns
THE DESIRE for more tranquil living away from the city is seeing more people home schooling their children.
Many other buyers making the move out of the city enrol their children into local schools, agents say.
Yael Geffen of Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty personally knows a family which moved from Fourways in Gauteng to Thabazimbi, a mining town in Limpopo. They bought a game farm there and run three Airbnbs off their property.
“Their child went from a private school in Fourways to a local school in Thabazimbi. He prefers his new life of riding bikes, playing outdoors, target shooting and learning about game.
“The husband commutes when he needs to, but mostly runs his business remotely from Thabazimbi.”
For families making such a move, their reward is a sanctuary, more space and perhaps an outdoor lifestyle where they feel less restrained than in a city. For children it promotes more outdoor play and appreciation of nature.
Just as modern technology makes it possible to work from anywhere in the world, Just Property’s Shaun du Bois says the internet has also assisted those wanting to home school their children.
While there does appear to be growth in home schooling, Jeremy Barnes from Greeff Christie’s International Real Estate says there is still strong demand for mainstream schooling.
To this end, the new Generations Schools Campus, which has just been completed at Imhoff Farm in Kommetjie, has been the answer to many aspirant Kommetjie and Scarborough residents’ prayers.
“Fish Hoek offers schooling options, as does Westlake, which is a relatively short commute from Simon’s Town and Fish Hoek.
“Some children are driven to school every day, but there are also parents who have their children in schools in the suburbs as weekly borders, believing this provides the ideal environment for children to flourish without enduring arduous commutes.”