The Homeschooling Father, Why and How I Got Started: The Homeschooling Father, #1

By Salatiso Mdeni

"A courageously and brilliantly written, tell-it-like-it-is summation of the challenges endemic in education in Mzansi—and elsewhere, frankly—and the knock-on effect that permeates society and employment.

 

With its entrenched culture of entitlement, patronage, cadre deployment, and good old-fashioned construction mafia shakedowns, the narrative is both gripping and enlightening.

 

More refreshing still is the hope offered by the author in the way of solutions and a can-do spirit; not just another list of only problems.

This author and writing is one of South Africa's best-kept secrets, as far as I am concerned. Among other things, it is inspiring me to seriously contemplate homeschooling my children—though it covers so much more ground than that alone.

 

Do yourself a favour and read this work.

 

Share it widely and often.

 

Kudos, Salatiso.

 

Thanks for the inspiration."

 

James (Jimmy) Duly, MSc Adult Ed, World's Most Reality-based Operations Management at University of KwaZulu-Natal

• Language: English
• Publisher: Salatiso Mdeni
• Release date: May 9, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224901340

Salatiso Mdeni

First and foremost, I am a father to my son, with all else being a means to this end. As the only son of my parents and the eldest among my three sisters, I proudly assume the role of a father figure to my nephews and niece, as well as being a reliable provider for my entire family. Growing up in rural Transkei, Eastern Cape, my life changed when my father passed away when I was 11. This loss compelled me to mature quickly, and with my mother's strength, I supported the family by age 20 after completing my National Diploma. Understanding the importance of my family's success, I brought them from the Eastern Cape to Gauteng, transitioning from rural life to owning properties in Johannesburg. These choices provided better prospects for my mother, siblings, nephews, and son, Mila. My educational journey began in rural Transkei, leading me through rustic schools before relocating to Mpumalanga, where I completed my Matric. Over the past two decades, I have expanded my knowledge in Risk Management across various industries. My formal studies provided a strong foundation, but my commitment to continuous learning has truly broadened my knowledge. I am dedicated to pursuing practical solutions rooted in my experience and research, challenging conventional wisdom and evaluating outcomes based on real-life experiences. As an auditor and risk management professional, I have thrived in the corporate world, safeguarding my family from prevalent pitfalls. My unwavering commitment to enhancing my skills stems from my dedication to being a father to my son and a provider for my family. After publishing my first book in 2023, I now explore and write about subjects that intrigue me.

Book preview

Dedication

To my family, thank you for being a source of strength for me throughout my life, even when I thought otherwise.

The only way I can show gratitude to those that preceded me, without whom I wouldn’t be is to do my best by their descendants.

My partner, who came to my life when it mattered the most.

SK & SN, cousins and all the loyal friends who supported me.

The many teachers I have had over the years, who have aspired to inspire by doing their best, and the many communities from whom I have lived and learned, professional and personal.

iSalatiso

Copyright....................................................................................3

Dedication...................................................................................4

iSalatiso................................................................................6

Preface.....................................................................................11

Part 1: Why.....................................................................................1

1. The formal school system................................................................1

1.1. Public vs Private Schools...........................................................4

1.2. Traditional Schools vs Distant Education vs Homeschooling.....................5

2. Why I got started.........................................................................8

2.1. Problems with the Formal School System..........................................9

2.2. Premium public schools and private schools are the solution, right?............11

3. Does the formal schooling system make sense at least?.............................16

3.1. Things that don’t make sense about formal schooling...........................17

3.2. At least the formal schooling system educates people, right?...................20

4. Historical background of the formal schooling system................................22

4.1. Where and when did it all start?...................................................23

4.2. Authentic beginnings to nefarious execution.....................................24

4.3. Formal schooling in South Africa..................................................27

5. The real purpose of the formal education system, as measured by actual results...31

5.1. Plunder & Corruption..............................................................35

5.2. Ensuring sustainable voting base.................................................39

5.3. Weakening the influence of parents...............................................42

5.4. A note on the meaning of community within the family context..................48

Part 2: Where I began........................................................................51

6. Homeschooling and the Law, The South African Constitution........................52

6.1. Am I breaking the law by not sending my child to a formal school?.............54

6.2. Homeschooling and the South African Constitution..............................57

6.3. What is Basic Education?.........................................................60

6.4. Other Countries and the International Perspective...............................62

7. Departure Point.........................................................................64

7.1. School background of the parents versus post school progress.................67

7.2. Personality of the child and parents...............................................70

7.3. The family environment............................................................72

7.4. Better when there’s more than one child..........................................75

Part 3: How we make it work.................................................................76

8. Hardware and Software Requirements................................................77

8.1. Home Classroom Requirements..................................................78

8.2. Hardware Requirements...........................................................79

8.3. Software Requirements............................................................83

9. The Curriculum..........................................................................90

9.1. Available Curriculums..............................................................91

9.2. Homeschooling.....................................................................93

10. Online Resources......................................................................95

10.1 Free & Low-cost Online resources...............................................97

10.2. Online Security and Productivity Tools.........................................100

10.3. Educational Websites and Applications........................................103

10.4. Websites vs Mobile Applications...............................................106

11. Bridging the socialization gap and group sports....................................108

11.1. Interaction with other children..................................................110

Part 4: The not so good and the great......................................................111

12. Problems thus far.....................................................................112

12.1. Enforcing Compliance to schedules at home..................................114

12.2 Enforcing Discipline..............................................................116

13. Benefits to date.......................................................................119

13.1. Costs.............................................................................120

13.2. Entrenching Family Values.....................................................121

13.4. Flexible times preventing waking up too early.................................127

13.5. Reduced travelling..............................................................130

Part 5: Informal Knowledge, Unarticulated Wisdom  and Family Diversity...............132

14. The danger of equating formal schooling with teaching and qualifications for knowledge......132

14.1. Unarticulated knowledge and uncredentialed expertise.......................134

14.2. Articulated knowledge and credentialed expertise.............................135

14.3. The value of personal experience over credentialed expertise...............137

14.4. Physician, heal thyself..........................................................140

15. Homeschooling complements our diverse family structures........................144

15.1. The nuclear family’s sketchy South African origin story.......................145

15.2. The triumph of the extended family.............................................147

15.3. The extended family, one of the time-tested solutions to the female headed home crisis.......149

15.4. The nuclear and female-headed household model reliance on external surrogates......153

15.5. Homeschooling is flexible as families are diverse..............................155

Part 6: In closing, at least for now..........................................................162

16. Homeschooling makes sense, even for non homeschoolers and government....163

16.1. The case against centralisation, Electricity supply as an example............164

16.2. The case for homeschooling, for everyone's benefit..........................167

Acknowledgements..........................................................................170

Notes.........................................................................................173

Preface

Certain ideas have become so prevalent in modern society that some people are even willing to enforce them through the use of laws, as if they are guaranteed to bring about favourable results. One of these ideas is formal schooling, especially when made compulsory.

This idea advocates that the people best suited to teach one's children are everyone but the parents and family.

Parents are no longer capable of making informed decisions about their children's curriculum. We can't object to activities that are arbitrary and sometimes harmful to our progeny. The Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill threatens to erode the remaining control that parents had over formal schools, as it aims to centralize decision-making power in the hands of detached surrogates who do not have a personal stake. We must be happy relying on outside surrogates, credentialed experts, and professionals who are believed to know more about our children than we do.

It all begins with politicians who are fully cognizant that feigning concern for the well-being of vulnerable children is one of the most powerful strategies to secure victory in elections.

Academics funded by generous taxpayer-funded grants obtained with the aid of these politicians publish research confirming the prevailing opinion. Favoured individuals pretending to be experts and professionals are given high-status positions and profitable contracts to create and carry out a curriculum for the whole country.

Progressive ideas and popular trends frequently attempt to supplant the age-old knowledge that children acquire at home; knowledge that has been passed down through generations. For 12 years, they consistently emphasize the importance of their role in the child's life, resulting in a loyal client who guarantees a thriving business for the surrogates.

They portray everyone other than the parent and family as the most competent teacher, and any other service conventionally provided by the parent. Critics and resistant parents are dismissed as old-fashioned or even treated as criminals for not following the approach and giving up their children to the experts.

Traditional values that ensured our ancestors' survival are no longer considered important by specialists and experts in child education, who prefer more profitably and trendy ideas.

What happens when these ideas are encouraged and parents agree to have their children raised by everyone except themselves?

What happens when the ideas from those impressive speakers, who discuss modern educational curriculums on the most influential platforms of our time, are put into practice long enough to produce measurable results?

South Africa 2023 happens.

No generation in this country has received as much formal education as the post-1994 generation. How is the formal schooling system doing as a replacement for parents and family as primary teachers of children?

●  Unemployment is at its highest level, surpassing the levels seen before 1994.

●  The probability of being murdered is higher than in some war zones.

●  There are more people dependant on tax-extorted from the few productive people the country still has working in the private sector or for themselves.

●  Every government service and state-owned entity has failed, or is on its way there.  The country is experiencing blackouts and water restrictions. I am not aware of any municipality, bar from a few managed by the opposition party, that is performing well.

●  Every tertiary institution is marred by corruption scandals, if not another scandal that destabilizes the learning objective.

The probability of dying the hospital or clinic that is supposed to save you is as real as the fact that the formal schools that were supposed to teach have left people dumber and unemployed/ unemployable. Despite boasting the most educated generation, the country is still plagued by numerous social ills.

The above are just a few key highlights from a long list of problems. Politicians who supported these ideas and their advisors have moved on to higher positions, despite the negative long-term consequences we are experiencing now.

The formal schooling system has subjected each of us to horrendous experiences that have greatly influenced my approach to educating my children. Given the limited options within the system, I felt compelled to explore alternative avenues in order to provide a promising future for my children.

I am not saying that the path I have chosen will work for everyone, and I am also not saying that the formal schooling system has no successes. The prevalence of such arrogance is what has led us to adopt a uniform approach that has taken advantage of taxpayers, caused children to feel insufficient because they couldn't meet an absurd standard that held no relevance to their future success, and produced grown-ups lacking fundamental abilities required to sustain oneself, which is the ultimate benchmark of maturity.

As someone who successfully graduated from the formal schooling system and managed to achieve positive outcomes in adulthood, even after attending some of the lowest ranked schools, one might assume that I hold a favourable view of formal education. There is absolutely no denying the fact that my positive outcomes cannot be attributed to the formal schooling system.

It dawned on me that if these results were mostly a product of the formal schooling system, they should be the norm rather than exception. All children who have completed the same level of education should achieve similar outcomes, given that the curriculum is standardized and they all have formal schooling as the constant. Yet nothing could be further from the truth, variation is the rule.

The accomplishments that individuals achieve in adulthood are as varied as the distinctiveness of families. If the formal education system fails to make a significant impact on the successful outcomes individuals achieve as adults, how can we reasonably claim that it is a universal solution for everyone?

I couldn't bear to expose my children to a system that has resulted in a once hopeful nation becoming a backward state on a freefall.

Although I was exposed to brainwashing and indoctrination during my time in school, it was ultimately the teachings and genetic inheritance from my parents that truly shaped the trajectory of my life.

The moment I recognized that my achievements in life were not due to school, but rather in spite of it, was the moment I began seeking alternative opportunities for my family.

Part 1: Why

1. The formal school system

8.3 The character of home education

Home education:

is the oldest form of child education;

precedes formal school education in all cultures;

represents and honours a preference or wish of a parent to personally facilitate the education of her or his child in the family home.

exposes the learner to the knowledge, skills and values required for:

admission to further education and training, higher education and/or employment; and

life as an active community member and citizen of the modern world.

allows for:

flexibility of learning provision, guided self-study and the use of a variety of media.

access to a varied array of public amenities (like libraries and museums), commercially available learning programmes (online and otherwise) and tutorial assistance.

networking amongst parents for the sharing of experiences, mutual encouragement and support.

Parents who home educate their children place high premium on resource-rich learning e.g.:

experimentation with the ever-widening learning opportunities in the environment,

use of resources in print, DVDs and the Internet, and

encouraging holistic learning from the child’s family, social, cultural, religious and physical environments

●  Policy on Home Education. Government Gazette No. 42037 – 16 November 2018.

According to South African History Online (SAHO), the first formal school in South Africa was opened by the Dutch East India Company on 17 April 1658. Until then, the education of the child was the primary responsibility of the family with the immediate community also contributing. The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has officially recognized and declared this as an indisputable truth in their Education Policy.

Children learned from their families, including their peers, mostly through informal learning the following amongst others;

●  Their role in the family's wellbeing,

●  Looking after livestock,

●  Tradition and culture,

●  Subsistence farming,

●  Building of dwellings,

●  Hunting and gathering,

●  Offensive and defensive fighting strategies,

●  Cooking, cleaning and general housekeeping,

●  The difference between poisonous and medicinal plants

The children were fortunate to be exposed to a diverse range of skills within their family and immediate community. The development of these skills was not only vital for their survival but was also transmitted by family and community members who were deeply committed to the child's nourishing.

The parents, family and immediate community’s incentive to educate the children was not based on monetary rewards. It was rather an authentic interest in the child learning practical skills that they needed to be a productive member of the family and community. If parents, families and communities did not teach children necessary skills to survive, the parents would suffer the consequences in their old age. Children collecting wild fruits, vegetables and medicinal plants needed to know which were safe for consumption to avoid poisoning themselves and their family. If the food was consumed at a celebration or mourning attended by the whole community, all of them could suffer the consequences. 

The success or failure of a child had tangible consequences that affected not only their family, but also the wider community. It was a practical concern that went beyond being just a theoretical concept. The child was not reduced to a mere statistical abstract, as politicians, bureaucrats, and advocates for centralized education tend to do.

Now this is not to say there were no formal institutions then, albeit in a different format than we currently have. As a Xhosa man for example I’ve had to go through initiation school which was meant to prepare me for manhood. The practice has a formal nature, defined by its own set of norms, traditions, and structure. Its ultimate goal was to provide me as I transitioned to manhood with a comprehensive education on what it means to be a man.

"Ulwaluko is a Xhosa word that refers to an initiation ritual that is performed to transform boys into men (Goniwe, 2004). This has been practised for more than a thousand years (Mtumane, 2004) among the Xhosa, an indigenous tribe predominantly residing in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.

The ritual begins with the seclusion of the initiate (one who undergoes the cultural circumcision ritual) from his immediate surroundings to a temporary hut built of grass (Turner, 1995).

At this hut, he is circumcised (male circumcision is the partial or full removal of the foreskin of the penis) (Hellsten, 2004) and receives instructions on courtship, social responsibility, marriage practices (Goniwe, 2004), sexual education (Vincent, 2008a), and adult life and its responsibilities (Pauw, 1994).

Finally, the initiate is welcomed back into the community and the ritual concludes with a celebration of his newly acquired manhood status (Mavundla, Netswera, Bottoman, & Toth, 2009)."

- Tapiwa Magodyo, Michelle Glenda Andipatin, Kyle Jackson - The role of Xhosa traditional circumcision in constructing masculinity

Granted not much can be learned in a month but that was all the time I could spend there, formal schooling demanded I return on time for my final year in tertiary. My elders used to frown on how the practice has now been reduced to almost a token, even the time spent there has to be shortened to prioritise formal schooling/ employment.

Similarly, with one of the greatest military forces to ever come out of the continent, Shaka, had a formal system to train his warriors. Although training for children was often unstructured, there were still formal educational systems in place to teach certain skills at specific ages.

The introduction of formal schools started mostly with missionary schools in the country, eventually morphing to the multitude of school types we currently have. Today there are many types of schools, from public to private as well as hybrids in between.

1.1.  Public vs Private Schools

The public or private status of a school is determined by its funding, and subsequent ownership. Public schools, also known as government schools, are primarily funded by the taxpayers while private schools are paid for by the individual parents.

●  The public schools catering to those with the least financial means require no fees with all costs paid for by the taxpayer. These, according to the education department are classified