Page 31 - TODAY magazine Issue 1 2021

YOUR FAMILY // EDUCATBION
MAKING
THE SWITCH
Grades 1–9: Children have to be registered for home-schooling with your provincial Department of Education. You can do it on the Department’s website. Grades 10–12: Learners must be registered with SACA1, an examination board registered with Umalusi, to be able to write the matric exam and get a National Senior Certificate. You cannot do this yourself and will have
to work through an independent
service provider.
efore dismissing traditional schooling outright, think about the pros and cons. Balance
what you don’t like against what schools have going for them, and consider how you
would make up for it in a home-schooling environment. ‘Schools can teach children to be tolerant of people’s differences and accept alternative viewpoints. This is not easy, but it is an important part of developing young people into contributing, empathetic and aware grown- ups,’ says educational psychologist Anne McDonald.
‘Schools can also offer so much more than just academics in the classroom. Participating in extramural activities such as sport, drama, art, music and debating is much easier at a school. Having said that, I know that these activities are available outside a school environment too, but they often don’t offer the same sense of community.’
IS YOUR CHILD CUT OUT FOR HOME-SCHOOLING?
Other than convenience, there are a number of reasons why parents choose to go the home-schooling route. McDonald believes that children with learning difficulties or who learn differently might benefit from home-schooling, provided that the person managing their schooling at home understands how to teach a child with their specific needs. In some instances, parents also choose home- schooling to limit their children’s exposure to unwanted influences such as bullying, drugs and racism.
Sarah Ferguson, Head of Marketing and Communications
at Teneo Schools, an online school, adds that a number of their learners have parents who travel a lot, or themselves participate in sport at a competitive level and need to be able to learn from anywhere.
While we may think that it’s the other way around, McDonald says, ‘I think home-schooling in a one-on-one environment better suits children who find it difficult to work independently. More independent learners can function very well in the public system where the class sizes are bigger and they may not get as much personal attention.’
Then there’s the type of system to consider.
INDEPENDENT LEARNING
• Impaq (Impaq.co.za) offers Grade R–12 lesson material aligned with the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) and facilitator guides, access to subject experts, a guided learning platform for learners plus memorandums to mark tests and examinations.
• Think Digital Academy (thinkdigitalacademy.org/za) provides course material for CAPS and the British curriculums with a suggested schedule and weekly feedback on email. Learners can contact tutors directly for help when they need to.
• Evolve Online (evolveonline.co.za) offers the CAPS curriculum and own-pace learning supplemented with online classes.