Homeschooled: Families across Flanders embrace DIY education
Although only a fraction of parents in Flanders educate their children at home, more than ever before forgo traditional schools in favour of going it alone
Home is where the class is
These are the Beskys, one of a growing number of families that has chosen homeschooling. In Flanders this means any education outside of schools that is recognised, financed or subsidised by the government, for either an individual child or a group of children.
While a handful of private schools, including the Hasidic Jewish schools in Antwerp, fall into this group, there are many families choosing to educate their kids at home. According to the Flemish government’s education agency Agodi, 853 children of primary school age were homeschooled in the year 2013-2014 (0.21% of the total number of children of that age in Flanders) and 1,164 secondary-school-age children (0.28% of the total).
The figures have been steadily rising. In the year 2000, there were only about 100 homeschooled pupils of secondary school age and less than 100 of primary school age.
Tailored to needs
According to Agodi, there are several motivations. Close to 20% of families said they were homeschooling because of a low sense of well-being in school, about 16% said it was because they could tailor education to their children’s needs and some 11% wanted to give their children a broader or different education than they were getting in school.
Other reasons cited included religious convictions, medical and learning problems, and because the family moves around a lot.
In the case of the Beskys, an American family that moved first from the US first to Austria, and then to Belgium in 2007, the path to homeschooling all six of their children was a gradual one. Their three oldest started out in private international school here, but, with a big family, the fees became prohibitive.
If I’m trying to teach my kids the golden rule, I shouldn’t put them where the law of the jungle prevails
“One of our kids had to be homeschooled,” explains Maja Besky. Eventually the she and her husband asked themselves why they shouldn’t just homeschool all of them and save on the school fees.
That was the Besky’s starting point on their journey of homeschooling. Many other advantages have since become evident.
With one of her children, Besky had endured sleepless nights during his early days at school in Austria, discussing how he was coping in the school playground when children were fighting. “If I’m trying to teach my kids the golden rule,” she says, “I shouldn’t put them where the law of the jungle prevails.”
While their children excel in some areas – one is well ahead of his year group in mathematics – homeschooling also allows her to give help where and how it is needed. “When they are struggling, rather than having a teacher say your kid has ADHD, we let them sit on an exercise ball and bounce around while they do their mathematics.”
Forging their own path
When the children are younger and can’t deal with sitting behind a desk all day, she continues, “they can run around outside and then come back in to do their work”.
Homeschooling, however, has many critics. In a country with the world’s highest level of participation in school from the age of two-and-a-half, keeping children at home is seen as a destructive method in their development of so-called soft skills that enable people to interact with others.
Then there are the clichés of homeschooled kids, as seen, for example, in the opening scenes of the teen movie Mean Girls: They are freakishly clever and have parents who are “weirdly religious”.
The religious aspect has raised flags in Flanders recently, where the government has been looking for ways to head off radicalisation at an early age in school. In May, during a debate about radicalisation of youngsters, MP Jo De Ro of Open-Vld criticised the lack of inspections carried out in homeschooling, amid fears that children were being radicalised under the radar.
De Ro said only 5% of homeschools were inspected, and one-quarter of those were issued with negative reports. Flemish education minister Hilde Crevits replied that inspections increased in 2014-2015, noting that it’s not her intention to make it harder for homeschoolers.
Mix of methods
Another blow to homeschooling came from the constitutional court, which ruled in 2014 that a government decree ordering that all children of secondary school age must attain set graduation goals (known in Dutch as eindtermen) was not in conflict with constitutional law. This, said those who appealed the decree, would undermine or conflict with their own teaching programmes.
Besky says that having her kids socialise is very important. “One of my kids is leading a youth band, then there’s scouts. We have a piano teacher come to the house. I try to make sure they do things outside of the home. They also follow online courses where they communicate with their teacher, and they are in study groups and discussion forums.”
As for the raised eyebrows in the supermarket when she is out with her kids during the school day, she says: “They look at us, but then they see that my kids are adding up grocery costs, or helping me or other shoppers. They're actually learning a variety of things as they accompany me.”
The proof is in the pudding
As for the children, one of them, who is now at university, initially struggled with the lack of competition from peers. “He got really frustrated, but he turned his attention to baseball,” explains Besky.
The 11-year-old tells me the best bit about homeschooling is that “you can change your schedule according to what you have going on”.
There is some required paperwork for homeschoolers. Every year, Besky has to submit her application to the Flemish government and describe her teaching themes. The government also requires that secondary school-age children sit exams each year, which is a problem for kids who don’t speak Dutch. But this can be avoided, according to Agodi, if the education in another language – in her kids’ case English – is deemed equivalent.
As the children graze on freshly harvested vegetables from their garden and drift peacefully in and out of their studies – today is an “off day”, meaning a relaxed day – Besky explains that each child has household responsibilities, including preparing lunch and cleaning. According to a recent report by the Vlaamse Scholierenkoepel, these are skills that the government would like to see among their graduation goals.
As for academic successes, Besky notes that she already has two kids at university. “The proof is in the pudding,” she says. “My job is to help them find the things that make their hearts sing.”
Photo: Ingimage
Educational system
million school-going children in 2013
million euros Flemish education budget for new school infrastructures in 2013
percent of boys leaving secondary school without a diploma
- Education in Flanders
- Secondary education reform
- European Encyclopaedia on National Education Systems
