More parents opting for education at home

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/12/2018 (1950 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When the stress and anxiety of the classroom became too much for Drayton Loewen, his mom and dad decided it was time to pull him out of school and allow him to get an education in his own home.

“We could see right away he was struggling with major anxiety issues,” 42-year-old Alyson Loewen of Steinbach said about her son Drayton’s experience in kindergarten in the Hanover School Division early on this school year.

“There were meltdowns after school, there was bed wetting. We knew we had to do something.”

Loewen’s six-year-old son was pulled out of the public school system in November of this school year, and he is now one of the more than 600 students in the HSD area who are currently being homeschooled.

The trend of homeschooling in the area has been on a steady rise for years, as a report recently released by HSD shows the number of students being homeschooled in HSD has doubled since 2012.

In the fall of 2012 there were 303 HSD students registered as homeschool students, while in the fall of 2018 there were 610 registered as homeschool students.

Loewen said she was not surprised to hear that homeschooling numbers are on the rise, and she believes there are a number of reasons why more and more parents are deciding to homeschool.

For her son, the commotion and dynamics of a kindergarten classroom were something he was just not ready for, Loewen said.

“He loves to learn and he’s really smart, but emotionally he just wasn’t ready for big classrooms and big crowds,” Loewen said.

Loewen knew that homeschooling her own child would be a big responsibility, but she said so far the results have been positive.

“We pulled him and in a couple of weeks he is doing so much better,” she said. “It’s been excellent, he’s been really happy and all the meltdowns for the most part have disappeared.”

Loewen uses the Accelerated Christian Education program as curriculum, but said her personal Christian beliefs played no part in her decision to homeschool her son.

Loewen added she also previously homeschooled her older son for one school year, but said the decision was made because that son was struggling with bullies.

“It’s a major issue in this area and schools claim to be no tolerance, but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening and some schools are worse than others,” Loewen said.

And while some parents choose to homeschool their children right through from kindergarten to Grade 12, Loewen said she hopes that her son will one day step back into the public education system.

“We don’t know what will happen but our plan is to do this for this year and look at putting him into Grade One by transitioning him back slowly,” Loewen said.

“I’m not one of those militant parents where everything has to be homeschooled. You have to do what works best for each individual kid.”

Kimberly Jane of Steinbach homeschools four boys between the ages of seven and 10 and she said her decision to homeschool stemmed from wanting to witness the progress of her sons first-hand.

“I wanted to catch the moments when they caught on to certain things,” Jane said. “I love to see them learn.”

Jane says the homeschooling route has been positive for her and her family, and she added homeschooling still allows the boys to socialize with peers.

“We are part of a homeschooling group where there are a variety of ages. We go on field trips and have gym night and public speaking and choir. Our boys can interact with different ages of people,” she said.

“We really don’t think the boys are missing out on anything by being homeschooled.”