Irwin Kempton
Homeschooling is an emerging type of schooling. In these blogs, I will convey information about Bilingual Homeschooling and Holistic Homeschooling, so others can take benefit from it.
irwin Kempton
Homeschooling
Reasons to Homeschool | HomeSchoolToGo
The survey and interview both asked parents why they chose to homeschool their
children. The survey yielded an answer to this through three questions:
(a) “What are the reasons you chose to homeschool your children?,”
(b) “Which reason is most important?,” and
(c) “What are your goals in homeschooling your children?”
The interview asked participants what motivated them to homeschool their children and their perceived benefits from homeschooling. The following sections will explain the
responses to these questions in the survey and the interviews.
Why Chose to Homeschool
The first question about reasons to homeschool asked participants to
respond yes or no to each of eight reasons with a ninth option for writing in another
reason. The most-selected reasons for homeschooling were:
● concern about the school environment;
● dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools;
● to provide moral education; and
● interest in a non-traditional approach.
All of these reasons were selected by over 65% of the participants. The reasons chosen
by fewer than 40% of the participants were to provide religious instruction, meet
unique needs, and accommodate a physical or mental health problem. In addition,
more than half of the participants identified and wrote additional reasons for their
homeschooling. To categorize the responses, they have been sorted into
categories. If a single written response included more than one category, it was counted
for each type it fits.
The predominant categories for the written responses were academic (18
descriptions) and family lifestyle (14 descriptions). The reactions that fit the academic
category ranged from a desire to focus on particular subjects, individualized instruction,
promote a love of learning, and meet individual educational needs for moving slower or
working at a more advanced level. The responses that fit the family lifestyle category
included descriptions of schedule flexibility and relational bonding (parent-child,
siblings). In addition, one definition of a reason related to religious beliefs, three reports related to dissatisfaction with public schools, three reports related to
language, and two reports related to health.
The three language-related reasons written in the survey included the
following excerpts.
● “We speak 8 languages :) there no school that can provide that per week. And we
study 4 more.”
● “language - we wanted to go on the French curriculum also.”
● “to play music and learn other languages.”
Most Important Reason for Homeschooling
The second survey question about reasons to homeschool asked the participants to
please select the most important reason from the options they had previously marked as reasons
for homeschooling. In order from most-selected to least, these most important reasons for
homeschooling, with response count, were:
● dissatisfied with academic instruction at other schools;
● interested in a non-traditional approach
● the other reason written-in on the previous question
● to provide religious instruction
● concern about the school environment
● to accommodate special needs and
● to provide moral instruction
This question yielded the result that more than half of the participants identified either
dissatisfaction with other schools or an interest in a non-traditional approach as their most
an important reason for homeschooling.
Irwin Kempton
What Does It Mean to Be Bilingually Educated? | HomeSchoolToGo
Bilingual education entails teaching academic content in two languages, a native language and a secondary language, with varying amounts of each language, used depending on the program model. bilingual homeschooling education, as opposed to simply teaching a second language as a subject, refers to using two languages as a means of instruction for students and is considered part of or the entire school curriculum.
Models of bilingual homeschooling education programs
Bilingual homeschooling education in transition
Transitional bilingual homeschooling education entails teaching a child in their native language to ensure that students do not fall behind in content areas such as mathematics, science, and social studies while learning English. According to research, many of the skills learned in the native language can be easily transferred to the second language later on. When the child's English proficiency is deemed adequate, they can be placed in an English Only (EO) environment. While the linguistic goal of such programs is to help students transition to mainstream, English-only classrooms, using the student's primary language as a vehicle to develop literacy skills and academic knowledge also helps prevent a child's native language from degenerating. This program model is commonly used in the school system in the United States.
Bilingual homeschooling education through immersion
Immersion is a type of bilingual homeschooling education in which subjects are taught in the student's second language. The students are immersed in a classroom where the issue is wholly taught in their second language (non-native language). There are various aspects of immersion in schools. There is total immersion, which means that the entire class is taught in the second language. Partial immersion occurs when approximately half of the class time is dedicated to learning the second language. Two-way immersion, also known as dual immersion, is the third type of immersion in schools. Half of the students in a class speak the second language natively, while the other half do not; this is called dual immersion. Dual immersion encourages each group of students to collaborate in learning the language of the other.
Dual language immersion or two-way immersion
Dual language or two-way immersion education refers to programs in which all students receive grade-level content and literacy instruction in two languages, English and a partner language. These programs are intended to assist native and non-native English speakers in becoming bilingual and bi-literate. There are four significant types of dual language programs, which refer to how a student would best learn with dual language immersion based on their previous language skills.
The first type of bilingual education program is developmental or maintenance of bilingual programs. Students who are native speakers of the partner language are enrolled in these programs to learn English. Bilingual immersion programs are the second type. Native English speakers and native speakers of the partner language are enrolled in these programs. Foreign language immersion programs are the third type. Students who speak English as their first language are primarily enrolled in these programs. Finally, there are heritage language programs. These programs accept students who are fluent principally in English but have a close relative (e.g., a parent or grandparent) fluent in the partner language.
Another type of bilingual homeschooling education is a dual-language program in which students study in two ways:
A variety of academic subjects are taught in the students' second language by bilingual teachers who can understand students when they ask questions in their native language but always respond in the second language, and
Native language literacy classes help students improve their writing and higher-order language skills in their native language. According to research, many of the skills learned in the native language can be easily transferred to the second language later on. The native language classes in this type of program do not teach academic subjects. Students learn all their academic subjects in the second language because the second-language classes are content-based rather than grammar-based.
Dual language education is a type of bilingual homeschooling education in which students learn to read and write in two languages. The majority of programs in the United States are in English and Spanish, but new partner languages such as Japanese, Korean, French, Mandarin, and Arabic have recently emerged. Through dual-language lessons, the concept of dual language promotes bilingualism, increased awareness of cultural diversity, and higher levels of academic achievement.