#21 - Homeschooling
One of the things you have to consider when you're a missionary family is education. The kids have to learn but to switch schools every time wouldn't be really good for them. International schools are private and the yearly costs are double the amount of money we're saving for our trip to the USA, so not really an option. What remains: Homeschooling!
Even before America and traveling really came on our radar, I was looking into education. What type of school and education did I want for Jeremiah? Ramon and I had learned a lot of our time in Israel and we wanted that biblical holidays were celebrated on biblical times, or at least being taught about. But good luck finding a school that does that and meets the rest of the things you're searching for in education. Through a friend of mine I found out about homeschooling and it intrigued me. I'm not one to be scared of new and unknown things, so I did some research. Turned out that homeschooling had been researched by a lot of smart people in the USA (where HS is now an official form of education) and they deemed it a very viable option since the results of HS led to Ivy-League Universities as Harvard being very eager to recruit HS-kids. So when the America-plans started to get more concrete, we made the decision: we're just going to try and see if it fits us.
Ever since we made this decision and now we've started (since September 2019), we've gotten a lot of questions about homeschooling. So I thought it'd be nice to write something about it, using the most frequently asked questions as a guide.
Can you do that in the Netherlands? And how does that work?
Yes, you can homeschool in the Netherlands. In the law of education there's been written that a parent can file for exemption based on three different reasons:
If a child is not capable of going to school (for example in case of disabilities)
When the parents can't find a school that fits their convictions. This is the most common reason that's used in the Netherlands.
If the family is leading a traveling existence. This is mostly for the people that are part of for example a circus.
Ramon and I are filing for exemption based on the second point. You have to have filed for exemption the month before you're kid is obligated to go to school, so in Jeremiah's case, before July 2020. According to the law, it's enough to send a letter to the city hall stating you're invoking the exemption. Other than that, officially there's no extra necessity to justify or prove anything. Right now, the Dutch government is trying to make it a little bit more restricted, to make sure that kids really do get the education they have a right to. We'll see what that leads to.
Do you use curriculums?
No, right now I'm not using any curriculums. I did do extensive research on what kids need to know at the end of Groep 1 (K1) and which themes are frequently done in that year. Based on that I made my own educational schedule. I'm planning to start using curriculums from groep 3 (1st grade), to make sure that Jeremiah learns those things in the 'right' way. For all the other subjects, I will continue informing myself on the themes and go through them in my own way, preferably with as many practical lessons and field trips as possible!
How about social development?
This really is a frequently asked question! There's this idea going around that HS-kids automatically will fall behind in the socialization-department. Luckily, this isn't the case, although socialization goes in a different and (according to researchers) more varied and rich way. Homeschooled kids, usually meet a larger variety in ages throughout their school time. They can meet a 10, 80, 30 and 5-year-old all on the same day as part of their school program.
Of course, it's important to us that Jeremiah plays with kids his own age. This happens weekly during Sunday school in church, and in the gym class that he attends weekly. Besides that, there's a network of (Christian) homeschoolers in our area, with whom we can meet regularly. The kids can play together and the parent can exchange experiences and ideas.
How much time does this cost you?
1x a year: At the beginning of the school year, I made a rough planning for the year, with a set weekly schedule. I also planned the themes that I want to teach this year. It took me about 2 days to put this planning together, although I have to say that before that I was cooking it up in my head for a little while.
With a new theme: When there's a new theme starting, I often go search for an activity, museum or book series that I can use. For example with the theme body, I wanted to go to Corpus, but they had a rule that only kids aged 6 and older could go in, so then I went and found a lot of cool books.
1x a week: I usually prepare all the lessons for the coming week on a Sunday night before. This takes me about an hour or two. I prepare all the assignments, search Pinterest for nice crafts and pick out bible stories. I also choose the bible verse that we're going to memorize that week and so on.
Daily: Jeremiah get's 'real' lessons on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9AM till about 11.30 AM. Tuesdays we are out and about for school the entire day and on Fridays, I combine school with the household. And of course, when you're homeschooling, the whole world is a classroom, making even a trip to the supermarket a time in which Jeremiah learns things.
How does your week look?
Monday: Letterday. Jeremiah is a visual student, so we're going through the alphabet one letter a week. We turn the letter into a craft and I prepare fun little exercises that he can do. Besides that, there's a lot of reading, word games and we visit the library once every two weeks.
Tuesday: helpday. On Tuesday mornings Jeremiah and I volunteer at the nursing home of our town. After that, we go to Rotterdam, where Jeremiah sits in on a meeting I have with the staff of our church. From there we go to the Food Bank to pick up some packages and bring them to different people. Around 4.30pm Jeremiah's gym class starts. It's a full day, but Jeremiah's favorite, because it's mostly the two of us the entire day.
Wednesday: Numberday. Just as with letterday we work on a new number every week. He learns the value of that number and how the number looks. This year we'll go until number 20. Besides that, we do games to improve spatial perception or a little math game. On Wednesday we also work on a theme a little more, by doing crafts for the theme-corner or searching the internet for information.
Thursday: Bibleday. Usually, we work in series, but when we don't I choose a passage from the bible that we then talk about. Examples of the series are 'fruit of the spirit' or 'the beatitudes'. Sometimes we just take the time to sing or try to listen to God's voice.
Friday: householdday/sabbath. Every Friday we do a big sweep through the house. Jeremiah and Ziva have to clean up their own room and as a team, we make sure that the rest of the house is all cleaned up as well. After room time, I'll check their room and if it's okay, Ziva and Jeremiah can watch their weekly Paw Patrol movies with something nice to eat. I often let them decide what's for sabbath-dinner and we'll go and get groceries for it together. After their Paw Patrol movie, we'll cook together, set the table in a nice, festive way and then eat.
Some things that will happen every day are the Breakfast Benediction (I've mentioned that in an earlier blog) and the verse of the week. This year I've chosen verses around the character to memorize. Next year I want to focus on God's identity/being and the year after on Jeremiah's identity. The verse of the week is written on the chalkboard in the kitchen and we try to say it every time we're in there. Until now it works really nice and Jeremiah has memorized quite some verses already.
That's it! If you have any questions about homeschooling, I'd love to answer them. See you at the next blog!
Dat was het dan! Mocht je nou nog vragen hebben over tO, vind ik het super leuk om die te beantwoorden. tot de volgende blog!