Study into Family

[volgadon]

Agreed. Or, much worse, among the Germans, who would put me in jail for teaching my children.

I've never got the big deal over home schooling.

[Guest]

I can't tell you anything about the Australian education system, but having been through the English education system myself, I can tell you:

- We do use the phrase 'Kindergarten', with local variations

- Primary school is 7 years (there is an additional non-mandatory year at the age of 3 which could make it 8)

- Secondary school (the mandatory part of it) is 5 years. There is an additional two years that is actually sixth form college and is not mandatory.

Hi Mahone, does the 7 years primary school include Nursery/Kindergarten? My cousin started Nursery at age 4 then went to 6 years of Primary school in the Public School System near London. But, I might have misunderstood what he said...

[Guest]

The idea of a three-year-old enrolled in a daily formal school is somewhere between absurd and enraging. A three-year-old belongs with his mother.

There's really no difference between this and the US daycare system. Well, except that in the UK, it can be public funded for up to 3 hours per day / 5 days per week.

Yes, a child belongs with her mother. 3 hours per day learning something from somebody else is not absurd or enraging. The mother can use it to get that needed sleep or do the laundry, clean the house, run some errands... activities that she would still have to do even if the child is present. Having the child with the mother while the mother's attention is on chores is really not that much more advantageous.

Edited December 13, 2012 by anatess

[Guest]

I've never got the big deal over home schooling.

Try having kids at a failing Public School System in the US and you'll understand what the big deal is about.

[Vort]

For starters, it is not mandatory.

Yes, that is a big difference.

[Vort]

I've never got the big deal over home schooling.

Agreed. It's as natural as can be. Don't understand why some people get their panties in a knot over it.

[Vort]

There's really no difference between this and the US daycare system. Well, except that in the UK, it can be public funded for up to 3 hours per day / 5 days per week.

This was partially my misinterpretation. Mahone wrote, "Primary school is 7 years (there is an additional non-mandatory year at the age of 3 which could make it 8)." I took this to mean that three-year-olds were involved in "formal schooling", which I think is absurd. But it appears this is not really schooling, but more like daycare. I am no fan of daycare, and I am much less a fan of a society that encourages our babies to be raised in daycare while the parents go off to work; but for some, this is their reality, and they have to deal with it as best they can.

Mahone's sentence does imply that formal education is mandatory starting at age four. (If I'm wrong about that, please correct me.) I do believe that sending your kids to formal schooling at four is misguided at best (though again, individual situations vary), and a government requirement to take the four-year-old from his home and put him in a school is -- here's the word -- absurd. Government has no business taking four-year-olds from their parents.

A homeschooling family we knew fifteen years ago didn't bother teaching their children to read until they were about eight years old; the mother's philosophy was that they had their whole lives to enjoy reading, and there were more important things to do in childhood. Obviously, I don't agree with that particular application of philosophy, since we taught our children to read by the time each was four years old, but I do like the overall philosophy that life is much too important to waste it chasing after unimportant educational objectives. (Important educational objectives are different.)

[Sali]

The law in England is that your child is required to start school the first term (semester) after the age of 5. But the school year runs from September to July so if the child's birthday is say January and they will be 5 that month, they can commence school from the age of 4 from the previous September. It's the parent's choice.

[MsMagnolia]

It depends which state you live in whether or not Kindergarten is mandatory. Kindergarten is not mandatory in my state (Louisiana). LA-4 is a state funded pre-K program that is also not mandatory. First grade is mandatory.