“It was something I wish I had always done because school didn’t suit her right from the start. She went to school very early and the peer pressure and lack of alternatives made me feel like I had to send her when she was only 4 because the only alternative was another year in pre-school.” Jeanette Everson is one of the increasing numbers of parents who are choosing to take their children out of the school system and educate them at home.
“My instincts told me I should have done it sooner and they proved to be right. She struggled from the start. I would say it wasn’t about that school and it would be similar anywhere. There was a very big focus on academia and sport but she didn’t really fit into either of those categories – she has a more creative nature. I speak to so many parents who have children crying over three hours of homework so I know that it wasn’t just us.”
Jeanette says that she continued to send her daughter to school as she didn’t feel there were other options. “As I became more aware of home education it seemed like a more sensible option, especially as the pressure was just getting more and more. It’s shocking the stress we put our kids under.”
Jeanette, who lives in Mullingar, says her daughter was coming home from school feeling ‘stupid’.
“She always struggled with maths. She would end up in tears and so would I. I think the system here generally seems to be very much focused on getting good test results and all that kind of thing. They’re taught to worry and memorise and copy stuff from the board but they’re never really taught to learn off their own back. I don’t think any child should come home from school and be stressed.”
The mother-of-two made the decision to take Camille out of school in fifth class when she was 12. “My son is 22 and there’s such a big gap between them so it was nearly like having an only child. I didn’t feel like keeping her at home right from the start would have met her social needs.”
Jeanette said that she believes the education system doesn’t account for the children who are not traditionally academic. “We’re not giving children time to be children anymore and we’re expecting them all to learn in the same way without making an allowance for the fact that all children are different.”
Jeanette explained there are many different strands of homeschooling, ranging from unschooling, that advocates learner-chosen activities as a primary means for learning, to a structured learning environment which closely mimics that of school children in public or private schools. Jeanette falls somewhere in the middle. “We don’t have a firm structure but every day she’s expected to do maths and other subjects. I’ll write her a list in the morning of what she has to do and once she’s completed that, it’s up to her how she spends her day. She’s following a couple of different maths programmes – one is in a book and another is an online maths lesson. I’m beginning to look at some GCSE options for her because she’s of the age where she’d either be looking at Junior Certificate or GCSE. I’m more inclined to the GCSE system just because it’ll be easier to do them from home.”
Camille’s days can vary quite a bit. In the morning she will care for her pony and dogs and at the moment she is doing a lot of sewing after receiving a kit for Christmas. “Last week we spent a week in Carlow helping out in a charity for the day sorting out things for refugees. This week we’re off to Kerry to meet up with a team group and we’ll be doing things like building campfires on the beach and just doing stuff that children do but learning far more about life skills than they’d ever learn in school.”
Jeanette said after she was taken out of school, the reduction in Camille’s stress levels was almost immediately apparent. “We’re all less stressed, actually. My husband would have come home to the stress of us trying to cope with homework. He’d have got involved in the homework as well and we would have all ended up yelling at each other and there would be tears before bedtime. She doesn’t have that pressure to be out of the house before it’s even daylight. The biggest single difference is that I don’t spend my day saying ‘Hurry up’ to her.”
“I would start my day saying, ‘Hurry up and get up, hurry up and get into the car, we’re going to be late. We’re going to be late.”
Jeanette said that while she doesn’t see her friends as often, they have recently joined a group of home-educated children who are spread right across the country. “They chat all the time on WhatsApp or whatever. That’s why we’re going to Kerry this weekend because it’s what they choose they’d like to do.”
A lot of people don’t seem to like spending time with their children. The holidays come around and they dread it. I don’t understand. Why would you have children if you don’t want to spend time with them?”
Jeanette advised any parents who were considering homeschooling as an option that they can always try it on a temporary basis. “I would say to parents don’t be afraid to do it because if it doesn’t work out the child can go back into school.”
“There are more and more people doing it and I think it will steadily increase. I think people are realising that they don’t need to be on this treadmill of working and rushing and learning stuff they’rer frankly never ever ever going to need to know.”
For information on homeschooling in Ireland visit the Home Education Network at www. henireland.org.
