HOW E-LEARNING CAN MAKE HOMESCHOOLING BETTER

Homeschooling is progressive educational reform in which parents prefer to teach their children at home instead of sending them to the traditional way of schooling. But why do parents choose to homeschool over the public or private school? Is this a new concept? Actually, the idea of Homeschooling is not new to the world. It has been practiced over the years. One of the best examples of it can be the passing of family values by ancestral to their descents. If the answer is “NO” then what has changed? The Homeschooling movement grew in the second half of the 20th century.

“There is no school equal to a decent home and no teacher equal to a virtuous parent." - Mahatma Gandhi

Intellectuals started writing about educational reforms and try to persuade societal views around homeschooling. But this concept got a new flip and momentum after the communication revolution. Communication and information revolution not just open the doors of education but also engulfs more students that traditional schools never think of. It helped to raise the literacy rate in society and at the end made parents capable to teach their children.

Currently, the world is grappling with the Covid-19 pandemic. It has taken a toll on human lives and their social bonding. Education is not an exception to it. This pandemic forced humanity to shut their schools and locked themself into their homes for the sake of social distance. Here the Idea of homeschooling comes into the picture. Many are busy counting the ill effects of Covid-19 on humanity but silently it has helped us to grow the idea of homeschooling and spread it extensively crossing the borders and geographies. Countries have evolved not only new ways of learning as against the traditional ones but it has also synchronized education for most of the world.

Can you guess who has played the major role in arming the parents with teaching skills? Yes, surely, it is virtual learning or e-learning. The amalgamation of Homeschooling and E-learning can reform education altogether. Parents who are indulged in homeschooling are using technology aggressively to teach their children and see better results compared with previous ones. What are the new opportunities that have been opened by this combination? Let’s have a look,

Personalized Learning:

Huge strides in technology have made education more accessible than ever. Homeschooling controls what children should learn and what should not. This can be made more effective with the use of tools of e-learning. E-learning can be helpful in building basic fundamentals of the subject along with parent’s knowledge. It is an innovative way of learning. E-learning opens the global gates of education. Subjects can learn whenever they are best to learn.

A higher degree of engagement:

Homeschooling nurtures the idea of long-lasting engagement with the child. But what if that is not productive? Online learning closes the gap between productivity while engaging with the child. It makes learning more experience-based and outcome-based which ultimately helps in good understanding and retaining the concepts. It promotes higher face-to-face interactive sessions that can be used to understand the root causes of problems.

Faster and Frequent feedback:

Testing the child in a neutral way is a major impediment in homeschooling. Various ed-tech solutions can be applied to test the understanding of the child. Feedbacks received from such actions can be used to change the pattern of teaching. This can benefit in making the child more competitive. Certification is also possible by integrating homeschooling and e-learning.

Time Effectiveness and Consistency:

This helps in accessing correct content for the child from the reservoir of information that is the internet. It also helps in completing the course without break. In this way, the child can grasp the concept wholeheartedly with a very short span of time compared with schools.

E-learning and homeschooling are not free from drawbacks that children may get exposed to. Here the role of parents gets magnified. Here are some suggestions that parents must keep track of:

1)Effective management of On-time display.

2)Try to maintain a good social relationship with the child.

3)Make sure the child is free from depression and mental issues.

4) Extra-curricular activities need special attention.

5) Non-biased test of your child with an effective feedback system.

6) Prevent your child from "lost on Internet"

Patience is a key to success. Therefore it is advisable for the parents to take decisions by considering both sides of view. Integrating these new ideas can make a solid impact on a child's education and overall development in both ways. Covid pandemic has given birth to a new world and opportunities. You are welcome there!