When kids study at home

The page pours the wine (aka Medieval Cordial), the wine- tester makes sure it is safe, then, and only then, is it served to King Rob. — MAUREEN PAETKAU

It was Medieval Day in Chiang Mai, the cast of characters drawn from the children and parents of a co-op group of homeschoolers. All gathered in the yard for a medieval feast where waissailers greeted the guests; the laverer washed the hands of all, beginning with the king and queen; and the pantler cut the top slice – the upper crust – of the loaf and presented it to the king.

Just how did all this pageantry and sumptuous food served in medieval style come about? Rachel, the thirteen-year-old of a family of six children explained that their co-op group met on Friday mornings and had decided to all study medieval times. "We ended up thinking we’d have a feast to show the things we’d been learning – what happens in medieval times.

Upstairs, the teens were rehearsing The Second Shepherd's Play in preparation for the evening's entertainment. — MAUREEN PAETKAU

"One of the mothers went on the Internet and found plays for us to do," she explained, "one for the younger kids, one for us teens to do. So we’ve been working on those and we’ll show that tonight."

Mum (Sarah) explains that The Second Shepherd’s Play will be presented in the language of the day by the older kids, but for the Everyman play "we’ve adapted it a little bit to make it easier language for the children and for the adults listening, too."

Cooperation is an important aspect of the homeschooling life of the families who make up the group in Chiang Mai. It enables them to share curriculum resources, ideas and advice as well as support and friendship. The coherence of the group, made up of families from five countries, derives from shared Christian values.

Values – often the desire to maintain or to strengthen family ties – is a strong motivation for many families who teach their children at home.

Many homeschooling families do come from a Christian background. In the past, missionaries were sent abroad to remote locations where education in their native language was not available. That necessitated sponsoring organisations to develop curricula based on school systems to which children would be returning.

Sandy, a homeschooling Mum from New Zealand, said she believes the excellent programme from home "started among high country sheep farmers. If they didn’t want to send their children to boarding school, what could they do? Many still live on high country sheep farms and on the islands."

Remote location, however, is not the only reason for homeschooling. In the United States, Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand and many other countries there are active homeschooling groups and programmes that provide curriculum, study materials and equipment, evaluation, testing and support for families living in their home communities.

According to the extensive homeschooling resource website A to Z Home’s Cool (see box below): "Ask ten homeschooling families why they homeschool and you might get a variety of reasons. Usually it is the positive ways homeschooling benefits their families."

It is also true that families take children out of school systems because of bad experiences or dissatisfaction with the quality of education their children receive there.

Rachel and her teacher study in a room built under their traditional Thai house in Sangklaburi. Other families use the kitchen or dining room table — whatever works best for them. This Thai family work together in the "classroom" in their home. — courtesy Fucella family; BP file photo

In a small Australian school system, André first found himself in the class where his mother was the teacher. As that wasn’t working for either of them, André was moved to another class at their request. The trouble was the class was more advanced and André became the subject of ridicule. Homeschooling was the answer.

Yuttachai Chalermchai, Director of the Institute of Thai Home Education (Sathaban Banrian Thai) (see box) states that many of the same reasons motivate Thai parents to homeschool. They believe that education in the system does not respond to the way knowledge is currently moving. “They see that the education in the system is not able to respond to the real potential of children,” he comments. "Many parents also disagree with the attitude of competition and consumerism that seems to develop within the public system."

In all countries, children with special needs often benefit from learning at home. For many expatriate families, including some among the Chiang Mai group, cost is also a factor. Without support from a sponsoring agency, international schooling is simply too expensive.

Sandy has no teacher training. The New Zealand curriculum her family uses is clearly set out for her with suggestions for structuring lessons and support from a team of teachers in New Zealand. They receive and evaluate the children’s work regularly, and are available by email to give any needed support.

Michel is not a teacher either, but he says, he is a scientist at heart. He teaches his eight-year-old daughter Arunie science while Mum, who is a teacher, covers other subjects.

"Before we came here, for one year I investigated what I needed to teach her science. I looked at the curricula that are used for her age group, more from the fear of not teaching her enough. It gives me ideas," Michel explains. "Just because you’re good at science, doesn’t mean you’re good at teaching it. For parents who might find it difficult, there are loads of materials out there."

Michel’s aim is to help his daughter be excited about science and curious about the world. They set up small experiments related to everyday experiences – how the air conditioner works, how silk, cotton and polyester are different because of what they are made from.

Whether you are trained as a teacher or not, homeschooling requires some preparation time, but individual teaching parents find different patterns to work best for them "I probably spend an hour each evening or every second evening, just looking over what we’re going to do, for all three of them," comments Sharon whose boys are eleven, eight and six years old.

Project work is an important part of modern education whether that takes place at home or in a school setting: build a model or prepare a clothing catalogue as Hannah and Twyla did to help participants dress for the day. — Courtesy the Byers family; Maureen Paetkau

Melissa doesn’t spend a lot of time preparing every week for the thirteen and nine-year-olds she teaches. "But," she says, "mostly I try to prepare ahead what they’re going to do the next few weeks; then a little bit every morning."

Older kids like sixteen-year-old Christina and Rachel, thirteen, work very independently with their curriculum material, with Mum just checking their work. Younger children, especially those who don’t yet read, need more daily help, of course.

A lot about teaching your own children is about being alert to opportunities. "When you’re homeschooling – everything is school," explains Sharon. "While Andre, eleven, is working with his Thai teacher, the two younger boys help me make morning tea. They’re learning to measure and to mix in order. So that’s all part of the teaching."

That’s teaching that any parent could do; and that many do – it’s just that for homeschooling parents it’s part of their daily routine.

Do kids who are homeschooled miss out on the discipline of a school curriculum and classroom routines? Not really, Sharon says, "There’s a lot of self-discipline – just to keep moving along."

Homeschoolers in Chiang Mai enjoy privileges at Grace International School where for a semester fee of Bt2000 per family students may participate in extra-curricular team sports, track, swimming and music. Some classes are also available to them. "It has been worth it for our family as the children have been able to join in the meets for sports and it has been a great experience for them," Sarah comments.

But how do you know your children are learning what they need to learn, gaining the skills they need to develop. Fortunately, those who follow set curricula from established school systems or approved curriculum developers, regular evaluation and testing is part of the package. In Chiang Mai, homeschooled students can arrange to take standardised tests at Chiang Mai International School (CMIS).

Brian, sixteen, will be taking his SAT exam at CMIS in June in preparation for university. He has a set of six math SAT prep videos and a CD for the English part of the exam that he uses daily. He is lucky because his Thai language gives him high school credit.

Whether for university or at a much younger age, moving between homeschool and a school system is revealing about the differences for a child schooled at home. Nine-year-old Rachel is being schooled at home in Sangklaburi. But she first spent nursery, primary one and two in her school in Scotland. Then in primary four, she spent another four months back in that school.

Commenting on the differences, Rachel explains that the biggest shock was the social atmosphere. That was a bit challenging during her primary four stay. "I wasn’t really used to a school thing. There were arguments and people sometimes got frustrated with each other," she explained.

Her mother, Jane, commented that if Rachel had gone to primary school she would know how to cope with playground bullies and roughness. "But she’s not had that experience; it was much harder to cope with."

"Also, the chatting," Rachel complained, "I could hardly get my work done because everyone was chatting in the classroom. I’m used to working in a quiet classroom."

Getting used to others in the classroom was also a challenge. Her teacher commented that Rachel found it hard to get used to the fact that there were other children in the class, so she would have her hand up to contribute a lot and be frustrated when others were asked.

Another difference was the ability to work at your own pace at home. "When I’m done, we move on to something else. In a classroom, you have to wait till everybody is finished before you move on to something else. Although," she adds, "once you’ve finished before everybody else, you can read or draw or play on the computer."

What about academics? "I wasn’t really behind in anything. They were learning their 4X table and I’d finished my 4X tables. They were just learning how to do paragraphs and I’d done that ages ago. When I got there, their big project was the Romans and I’d already done a whole term of that project. Yeah, I had to do it again. I aced it both times," she says proudly." One difference though, Rachel noted, was that when she and her Mum did the project, they could talk about it outside school time.

Rachel is using the curriculum of the World-wide Education Service, a UK based international organisation that provides a full educational consultancy services to agencies and corporations, bi-lingual, British and international schools in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe.

As homeschoolers here have found, there is a variety of curricula available including fully set out plans that give confidence to parents with no teacher training and professional teachers to grade and comment on work.

Many of the homeschooling group in Chiang Mai pick and choose – often taking math and science from an established curriculum, but putting together units of history and language arts from other sources. Many of the families purchase from catalogues and book distribution houses that supply books at discounted rates.

A co-op group not only work together on projects like the medieval day, but pass on resources as children complete units of work.

There are magazines to subscribe to and of course, the Internet (see box below) is a resource for everything from general information and advice to instructions for craft projects. Medieval day owed a lot to on-line information about clothing, food, eating habits, architecture and social conditions and, of course, the plays.

Mr Yuttachai reported that there is not yet much clarity for Thai parents who wish to homeschool their children. They are legally required to comply with Ministry regulations, but those are in the process of being rewritten. The Ministry has a policy to support homeschooling, but there is yet no practical means of implementing that support. In order to enter university, homeschoolers have to meet the same requirements as those in the national system. However, university entrance requirements are also being revised. Mr Yuttachai is following all these developments closely on behalf of homeschoolers.

In the meantime, Thai parents enjoy considerable flexibility in choosing what students study, concentrating on the interests and abilities of their children. In keeping with educational reform, the focus shifts away from memorisation of subject material to the learning process itself as a way of equipping young people with life skills. Home teachers are encouraged to be facilitators, not lecturers, and to encourage children to have a role in planning their learning.

Officials of the Ministry visit each homeschool once a year to assess and evaluate the students’ learning. In addition, parents must submit a yearly report of the results of their children’s learning and students must sit national assessment the same as children in the formal education system.

Like their fellow students in expatriate families, Thai homeschoolers take courses at learning centres or from tutors in subject areas like English, computer, music and the arts. Just as the Chiang Mai co-op group work together in some areas, the Thai Family Network provides opportunities for families to get together for play and cooperative activities according to their interests and needs.

The goal of most Thai homeschooling families is to educate their children with knowledge in parallel with the moral views of the family. They strive to raise children as healthy members of society physically, spiritually, mentally and socially. Mr Yuttachai asserts that for Thai parents who have not found the kind of education they want for their children, homeschooling is a viable option. And in that, they share the views of homeschool families worldwide.