Home schooling is no barrier to being sociable
DURING recent weeks I've had an unusually high number of discussions with various people about my being home-educated. I don't really think about being taught at home by my parents as being more worthy of discussion than most other things, however there seem to be quite a lot of people who do. As a result of these various discussions, I have discovered there are a great deal of myths and misconceptions surrounding its various advantages and disadvantages.
For those who don't already know, I was home educated by my mother from school starting age, until I was 13. I then went to Kirkwall Grammar School in my third year of secondary education. During those nine years of home schooling I did spend about six weeks each year as a pupil in Stronsay School. This was because my family left Auskerry every winter to spend the festive season in the company of others, and it meant that we could go away on family holidays.
Other than this very short stint in 'normal' school I was completely taught by my parents. Mum, (with occasional help from Dad), taught me, and latterly my two brothers, every subject in the curriculum. I imagine that it was at times quite difficult to teach three children, all at different age levels, whilst also trying to run a business and a family on a remote island. I know that the decision to choose this way of life, and to home school, was not a decision taken lightly.
Mum taught us for four hours from 8.45-1pm with a short break in the middle and she stuck strictly to a curriculum to ensure that we covered all the subjects. There were often times when I did not want to do what she asked and we would argue but in the end Mum always insisted as she wanted to make sure that we did not get behind. People often wonder how the amount of work completed by pupils during an average school day can be fitted into four hours. The answer is simply that without the distractions of a peer group you work more efficiently.
I don't see why my education is worthy of all this attention but here is a comment I frequently get when the subject is discussed: "Didn't you miss out on all the social side of school?"
I can answer this question with a very decisive, no! I believe that I have benefited greatly from my unusual upbringing. I think the argument people make about home-schooled pupils lacking social ability is based on the simplistic idea that if a child has nobody at school to talk to they wouldn't learn the skills needed to be sociable. I also believe that I developed an ability to be happy on my own and to use my imagination creatively because of the island life which has helped me to adapt to student life away from home.
I feel I am just as sociable as many of my contemporaries who went through the conventional school system. In my mind, this is because I grew up listening to adult radio and constantly participating in adult conversations; with my parents, with friends, family and strangers who visited the island, and also from our family holidays to cities in the UK and abroad. In fact research has shown that peers are not nearly as important for socialization as the interaction with other adults is during childhood.
One of my best friends at university, Chris Brackley, has always been skeptical of home education. Both his parents are head teachers, which may be part of the reason for this, but he believes that most parents home-school because the parents want to bring the child up in a strict regime of their own beliefs. It is true that this is the case sometimes and that home-schooling is used as a way to prevent any other influences from, 'contaminating' a child's mind, but my experience was totally the opposite; my parents wanted to teach me to investigate and question everything so that I developed my own ideas and learnt how to find out the information that I needed to do so.
Another common question people have is, is your mum a proper teacher?
Well if they mean, 'Does she have a teacher's qualification?' then the answer is no.
But if they mean, 'Has your mum got the skills to educate you to the standard needed to pass your exams,' then the answer is yes. Obviously I learned a great deal in my four years at KGS, but without the foundations mum had built in terms of my education, most of that would have been almost useless.
I can empathise with people when they find home-schooling difficult to accept because it is always hard to understand things which you have not experienced yourself. However I see it as having been of immense benefit to me on many levels and certainly do not feel I have been disadvantaged in any way. Apart from anything else it's a great talking point!
On a different note, this month has seen some significant developments in the future of Northern Hype. We have taken the decision to stop doing our Friday 'Hype' nights in Independent at the end of May. All six of us feel that despite the night being a success, we have not been able to achieve some of our original goals, particularly promoting and running one-off 'parties'. The weekly club night has been both a fantastic experience and a great deal of fun, but we want to try something new after the summer. The fact that we will all be starting our final year in September is also a consideration. As a result we have signed a contract for our first event in Newcastle at World Headquarters, a 600 capacity night club, where we plan to do one off events each month. This will enable access to a vastly bigger audience and therefore we can try some new things which were not possible in Sunderland.
I'm now in Orkney for two weeks Easter break and I'm really looking forwards to spending some time at home. Cheers.
