“Parents are experiencing a cross-road dilemma,” said the Growth Institute, a Specialist Education company in a recent statement.
According to them, school fees for 2017 are again on the increase and to have a child in a private school or in one of the better former Model C schools is just as expensive as or more expensive than sending a child to university. On the other side of the spectrum are learners of very high potential who are trapped in sausage machine schools where an average pass mark of 50 percent is deemed meritorious.
There is an increasing fear that:
• Schooling is becoming unaffordable
• The quality of the school system is deteriorating
• Health and safety levels are on a downward slope in schools
Many parents believe that the only alternative is to send their children to a very expensive private school. But not all parents can afford high fees, which means that the learner remains trapped in a school where his/ her future is compromised due to mediocre pass marks at the school.
Home schooling is an increasingly important option to consider. For years, parents believed that home schooling required the parent to be an expert teacher, but that is no longer the case.
• Home school tutoring centres, being the subject expects, are designed to teach content. Parents, taking the responsibility to register the learner for home schooling, act in an oversight role to make sure that the learner does his/ her assignments and studies for exams or tests.
• Home school tutoring centres do not coach learners for an exam. Instead, the centres are designed to transform learning into insights that will serve the learner well in the final exams.
• Home school tutoring centres have smaller class sizes (maximum 15 per class in some centres). Thus tutors, who are all experienced teachers, are able to spot and deal with issues quicker than is the case in mainstream schools.
• Home school tutoring centres have direct access to national support structures to effectively deal with administrative or learning issues
• Some home school tutoring centres run special sessions focusing on work readiness and tertiary education readiness so that learners know what to expect when they leave school
• Deliberate skills acquisition is a focus in home schooling tutoring centres. Learners are taught the think independently and to cope with situations.
In the past, home schooling was considered an option for those who could not cope with mainstream schooling. This is no longer the case. As the distrust in the public schooling system grows, parents will increasingly look for affordable alternatives.
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