From a Home Ed Dad – 3 Conversations You Might Have During the Pandemic

As a home educator, there are 3 conversations to look out for during the Coronavirus pandemic:

“You must be ok during the lock-down”

Home education is not a lock-down. We go out; we meet people; we take part in activities. We have routines. We are not shut indoors.

This is horrible for our children, as it is horrible for school children. Our routine is broken. They miss their friends. A video conference isn’t a hug.

“We’re all home schoolers now”

Not really. Home educators almost never recreate a school at home. This is not a school at home and it isn’t Home Education. This Great Disruption is part of an education where we all learn how to cope with health and financial jeopardy.

Education — an education — is a preparation for life now and life in the future. That is harder now than it has ever been. What will the future even look like?

What parents with children at school miss is that they did a lot of Home Education before the crisis. They talked to their children. They shared their values. They showed them how to fit into the world. They even learned alongside by helping with homework. Some lessons will have been painful, sad or traumatic. Many will have been joyous and loving. All these lessons can be a preparation for life.

“Home education is rubbish. My child learned nothing during the lock-down” or “my child was really stressed when I tried to home school them”

I expect to hear this quite often after the schools resume. It didn’t work for you. Perhaps it didn’t work for the country. So what?

This is an unprecedented crisis. We’re all inconvenienced, out of place and/or stressed.  Children need to feel secure and confident before they can learn. Very few of us are performing at the level that they were just 2 months ago.

Perhaps your child has learned a lot during the lock-down. Maybe they’ve seen the strength of humanity shine through. Now that is a lesson worth learning.