Faced with the obvious failure of the Spanish education system, more and more families would like to find an alternative that is more respectful of their children's needs and interests. But, Are there really alternatives to conventional school?
Our readers will already know that I have a very critical posture with conventional school and its methodology. But, really, even if they share my opinion totally or partially, it is obvious that it is the most widespread option, which is necessary and will continue to be so.
Without entering now in the improvements and changes that the traditional and official school needs I want to review, now, the alternatives to conventional school.
Schools with acceptable pedagogies or recognized alternatives
Both in the public school as in the private one there are projects that work, within the limits that the system imposes, to offer children a more flexible education. Ideally, if we look for one of this type, it is to enter family forums, and investigate which one is close to our home.
There are public schools and, above all, there are teachers with a very strong involvement in educational change. In the case of finding them, parents should be involved in the project and try to collaborate with them.
Really, as for public and concerted school In Spain there is no real freedom of choice in most cases, but we can always try to investigate the school project and its real application. For me there is a key question: when do they start sending homework and how many hours of homework do they send in each course?
There are also private schools that use alternative pedagogies, especially Waldorf-inspired ones. In principle, when working on block projects and placing special emphasis on creativity, they are attractive, provided that, in my opinion, the team knows how to respect family decisions and does not instill compelling theosophical ideas. At least this is my opinion, because I believe that moral education and spirituality is something that every family should offer.
One that I love is Liberi, which precisely has this philosophy: parents can enter the school. There is nothing to hide and much to share.
Free and alternative schools
exist free schools not recognized throughout the Spanish territory. Most offer, to avoid legal problems, for children of children. I always believe that they will be a better option than the traditional school, they have educators with an intense emotional formation and they have facilities in which the game and the outdoors are fundamental.
Although I believe, and it is my personal opinion, that for young children it is best to be at home and enjoy groups and play spaces, the reality is that many families want to offer educational spaces to their children from the age of three, or In many cases, they don't have the option of staying with them. For them, these flexible schools are a great option, provided they can verify the safety of the facilities and maintain a philosophy of open doors, something that I think is essential with the little ones.
There are some, counted, free schools They accept children over six years. Notable examples are Els Donyets and Paideia, each with a marked philosophy, but always looking for an integral development of personality, freedom in content and a democratic functioning.
Homeschooling
Home education or homeschooling It is an educational option not officially recognized by the Spanish State, but if increasingly widespread in our country, in which it is estimated that more than 2,000 families are already practicing it.
It consists, fundamentally, of not using a school to offer education to children, but to do so in the home environment. The variety of reasons and methodologies among families homeschoolers It is immense, since precisely, dare to take the step of educating in this way already implies a capacity for independence of notable criteria, so homogenizing the collective is impossible.
But there are things in common. The family is responsible for the global education of the child, not only in moral or emotional aspects, but also in academic training and its contents. Although, as I say, the variety of positions, reasons and systems, is enormous, my experience in all these years is that these are families that are greatly involved in all educational fields and that seek to offer the best to their children.
Many families that do homeschooling they choose to use services from distance schools approved in other countries, especially in the United States, which guarantee that the child acquires the appropriate knowledge and certifies his training in accordance with the laws of that country. In any case, in the homechoolers families, the weight of the training and the acquisition of the contents is a matter of the parents.
Also, and that is a concern of families who consider educating at home, support can be sought for areas of knowledge that parents cannot cover. It is not a different situation from the children who use the school and then have private teachers or go to academies to complement the school.
As we have mentioned on previous occasions the profile of homeschooler families and its reasons are very varied, but pedagogical reasons are usually common. Actually, I know very few children who have not benefited from being educated at home, flexibility, personalization, voluntariness, freedom of time, use of time and work in areas of interest is something everyone enjoys and takes advantage of. .
When I explain that a home-educated child, for example, in Primary School, does not usually need more than two hours of more or less structured work, people are amazed.
With the little ones, the world is their learning space. Nature, cooking, the human body, geography, history, reading ... everything can be integrated into daily life and exploitation, as it is an experiential and personalized learning, it is huge.
But things get better over the years. My son, who goes an advanced course and attends the equivalent of Second of That and is also doing university courses, does not need more than four or five hours a day to cover and exceed the objectives of his course. It is true that he is a child of High Capabilities, but precisely, and that is what I will explain next, we can adapt his work to his way of thinking and that is an enormous advantage for him. And we, as it were, are very academic and we place a huge emphasis on cultural content and cover, in addition to interests, the passion of the student, other areas that I consider necessary to offer all possibilities and freedom of choice in their future.
Homeschooling It is an option that gives, especially, excellent results when it comes to a child with special educational needs: gifted, children with dyscalculia, dysgraphia or dyslexia, children who could be considered hyperactive, double exceptionality or children who want to devote a lot of time to their passion and this demands an enormous effort and time of decication: music or dance are good examples.
With this I finish this review by the alternatives to conventional school and I encourage you, if that is what you want for your children, not to be afraid, to look for possibilities, to get involved. There is no more important issue in your lives than giving them what you think is best for them.
