10 reasons for homeschooling my child

​Transcript of MumDeeDoes video #5:

Hello my Darlings and welcome to Mum Dee Does. I am Dee, a mum who does it all and today I want to tell you 10 reasons why I think Ron will be homeschooled.

Reason #1: homeschooling would allow us to tailor and link school subjects to Ron's interests at the time, meaning he learns faster, easier and retains information a lot better.

Reason #2: homeschooling would allow us to focus and nurture Ron's particular talents which would increase his confidence, self-esteem and also make learning a lot more engaging and fun.

Reason #3: homeschooling facilitates the ability to remain active and interactive. Instead of being stuck behind a school desk for up to seven hours a day, Ron would be able to learn by playing games, being active outdoors and learn the skills to remain fit and healthy for life.

Reason #4: homeschooling is the perfect tool to teach young Ronnie to be self-initiative, to pursue his interests and his passions, to find information and to fact-check it; which is becoming increasingly important in today's world of political opinions, misinformation, marketing techniques, conspiracy theories and pseudo-journalism.

Reason #5: homeschooling would allow me as a parent to safeguard Ron from all the harmful side effects of traditional school: bullying, bad habits, social pressures, drugs.

Reason #6: homeschooling provides us with more opportunities to participate in the social activities and groups. Now I hear you saying: {homeschooled children have no social skills}. Now you see, that's the sort of misinformation that I was talking about earlier. The way I see it is: children only socialise with children for as long as they are children - it's the adults that we socialize with for the rest of our lives, so it is quite good to learn to socialize with adults early on. There are so many social clubs and activities going on, some of them aimed specifically at school children, but most of them: the webinars, the seminars, the exhibitions, theater productions - they are all activities organized by people who are passionate and knowledgeable in their particular art, craft or scientific expertise.

Reason #7: homeschooling helps maintain a close parental bond, which is really important to us as a family, because James is going away with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) and will be gone for 4 months at a time. If Ron went to a traditional school James would only see him for about 20 days a year, and that is just not long enough to form a proper, long-lasting bond. James's shift pattern would also allow us to alternate between my particular skills and James's technical know-how, so Ron would get the best of both worlds: the academic structured learning that I'm aiming to provide and practical skills that James will be able to teach.

The 8th reason for homeschooling is a continuation of the previous point. When James is home for the three months we would be able to take an extended trip and holiday, we would be able to explore the world and experience the real world out there, learn from real people: languages, culture, cuisines, sporting events, planning and budgeting; also, witnessing the real social and economic issues that people might be facing. It is the real and authentic way to learn about the world and come up with innovative new solutions.

Reason #9 -and it may sound like a conspiracy theory, making me sound like a crazy lady… {that's because you are a crazy lady}.  I've always distrusted the traditional schooling system. It was created in some 1800s during the factory and manufacturing times where people needed to learn obedience, discipline, punctuality and basically be good factory workers. We have moved on from those times, we need people who are creative, innovative and have far more important social skills than the ability to sit still behind a desk for extended periods of time. Look at the recent events in Scotland when the exam board decided to change the pupils’ GCSE results for no reason whatsoever, putting a great doubt in the education system as a whole. So is it a conspiracy theory? You tell me!

Reason #10 is very specific and applies to us here living on a small island of Eday. Eday is so small that we only have a primary school on the island, meaning that once Ron is 12 years old he would need to go to a boarding school overseas and far away. This reduces the amount of time that James would be able to spend with Ron even further and also makes me a redundant weekend parent, and that is not why we decided to have a child. We want to be involved in Ron's upbringing, in his education, in his worldview and homeschooling provides us with the perfect opportunity to do so, especially during the formative years.

Recent lock-downs of school due to Covid virus has given everybody an experience of what homeschooling is like and I know some parents really struggled. However, it's something that James and I have always wanted to do and because Ronnie is only 2 years old we won't be jumping in to homeschooling at a moment's notice, we have all this time to prepare and find the resources, the tools, the methods, the social clubs that we need to succeed. Now I invite you to join us on the journey of discovery and learning, where I will be sharing my latest tips, tricks, techniques. 

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​Bye