FAMILY


Homeschool


first discovered homeschooling in the ‘70s, and with the increasing number of foreign families in Italy who choose to homeschool for various reasons, this educational phenomenon is growing rapidly. Homeschooling is the independent


A


overseeing of a child’s education by its parents or guardians, in harmony with the family’s ethical and cultural values, and with particular attention paid to the interests and development of the individual child. In some cases one parent teaches, in other cases a group of families share the teaching amongst themselves according to the adults’ specific knowledge and abilities, or hire an external tutor and share the costs. It is an option that is most popular in North


America, where it is estimated that around two million families homeschool their children, and it is expanding rapidly in the UK where 150,000 children are homeschooled. The reasons why a family chooses to homeschool are many and varied: sometimes rural isolation and distance from the nearest suitable school means homeschooling is the best solution; some families feel that public or private schools do not address or reflect their personal spiritual or political values; some children have particular learning needs that cannot be catered for in the classrooms of regular schools; and families who travel or move house frequently may find that homeschooling is the best way to maintain continuity in their childrens’ educational development. But there is another very important


reason. Many people choose to educate their children outside the traditional classroom simply because they are certain that they can provide a better education that way – and recent studies on the ever-growing numbers of homeschooled children are


30 | THE TUSCAN MAGAZINE


lthough it’s still less common here than in English-speaking countries, Italian families


Tuscany An educational alternative


by Zara Nelson


“The most important thing any teacher has to learn can be expressed in seven words: Learning is not the product of teaching. Learning is the product of the activity of learners.” John Caldwell Holt, 1923-1985, American author and educator


proving that this is in fact the case. The U.S. Department of Education stated in a recent report that homeschoolers are, on average, one year ahead of their schooled peers on the elementary school level. By the time the homeschoolers are in the eighth grade (13-14 years old), they are four years ahead of their schooled peers. In the UK, a comparative study carried out by the University of Durham also found that children taught outside the conventional classroom significantly outperform their conventionally-schooled contemporaries in literacy and mathematics tests. Compare those results with the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment last year – which found that in Italy, one 15-year-old in every five is semi-literate, defined as ‘lacking the fundamental abilities in reading and writing’. This shocking statistic is the result of 9 years of institutionalised education that these children have received, not to mention the billions of euros that this education has cost the State and, by extension, the taxpayer. Results weren’t so great across the rest of Europe either – adolescent illiteracy ranged from 10-21%, with Italy at the bottom of the heap. The European Commission has set up a group of independent experts whose task is to identify methods of improving literacy in Europe’s schoolchildren. They would do well to take a long and honest look at homeschooling before anything else.


So why does homeschooling provide


such an excellent education? Albert Einstein famously said that he never tried to teach his pupils; he only provided an environment in which they could learn. Homeschooling excels at creating such an environment on all fronts; it provides a low teacher-student ratio with a high degree of teacher-student connection and dedication. Homeschoolers usually have a long-term relationship with their teacher(s), who follow them throughout their education and get to know them profoundly, as opposed to the conventional school scenario where teachers are changed every academic year. Homeschooled children are focused on as individuals, so the education is designed around the child’s capabilities and interests; where a child excels in a subject, the learning can be accelerated, and where a child is struggling, additional resources (and time) can be employed. Learning methods are tailored to suit the individual, as are teaching materials. More learning is accomplished in less time for all these reasons, plus the fact that homeschooled children simply don’t have to spend time on administrative activities like registration and roll-call, walking between classrooms or taking rigidly scheduled breaks, and quite often they don’t have to spend time travelling to school at all. Children who are homeschooled learn to make choices based on their own decisions, rather than social or schedule


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68