Homeschooling or Online Education in Nigeria -By Opeyemi Akinfaderin

With the invasion of COVID-19 in our world today, it is obvious that people have been forced to accept homeschooling and online education as the new reality. Both schools and parents found themselves in this unplanned reality staring at their faces.

For me standing in between as an educator and a parent, it was a new world of change with so many new things to learn and of course to unlearn.

In this new reality, a lot has happened both to our lovely pupils, parents, and to my fellow professional educators, thus I will like to highlight some pros and cons I have discovered in this new world.

So, let me start with some of the great advantages that I observed with homeschool and online education.

–         Opportunity for all learners at all levels to enjoy learning: Learners at all stages have got the flexibility to learn at their own pace and also enjoyed one on one attention from their teachers and parents.

–         Bonding: The homeschool and online learning have created a super opportunity for parents to bond better and build a relationship with their wards, as a parent it has personally given me more time with my lovely son, learning and playing; an opportunity that I will always cherish. Lol, that being said It creates lasting bonds between the child and parent.

–         A more Relaxing Learning Environment: So many children have come to enjoy the comfort of learning outside of the four walls of the classroom. Learners enjoy a more comfortable learning environment where they can play and learn with family and friends around to encourage them.

Now, let me quickly touch some of the disadvantages I observed with the homeschool and online learning option.

–         Lack of Social Skills: Homeschool and online learning have a great impact on a child’s social skills as learning takes place at home. The child’s social skills may be affected especially if you have just a child, as you know that mixing with other pupils brings out some other skills such as effective communication, leadership capacity, responsibility, teamwork to mention a few, which is almost impossible with the homeschool or online education.

–         Teaching Methodology: Most parents are not skilled in teaching, this may affect the child’s opportunity to learn the various methods and peradventure the parent teaching the child is not disciplined or cannot communicate effectively to the child’s needs in clear terms then learning becomes difficult.

–         Frustration may set in: A lot of parents will agree with me that in the normal school world some parents find it difficult to attend to assignments and talk less of taking the whole school activities home. Lack of professionalism, passion, curriculum, and needed learning resources could lead to frustrations for both the parent and the child. This may make learning difficult instead of being fun and exciting.

As an educator with over 10 years of classroom experience and having experienced both sides of the coin, I must say that for homeschooling or online education to be effective the need to partner with schools or educational organizations that offer such services is important and will help make the process of teaching and learning fun.

Looking at the above, we have seen that homeschool and online education work hand in hand, and education does not necessarily have to take place in the four walls of the classroom.

What is your opinion about homeschooling or online education? Please feel free to drop your comments or contributions.

Thank you

Akinfaderin Opeyemi

Educator.

#opeeducatestheworld