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For parents who do not wish to send their child to school, for various reasons, it is quite possible to do so at home. Home schooling enables the child to acquire knowledge by attending classes from home. In addition, the learning can be done by one of the parents or a third person.

The only condition is to complete the process and provide the chosen teaching methods to the inspector responsible for the control. In addition, only children who reside in France are affected by this system.

What are the steps?

Before starting a new school year, the child’s parents must declare the family education to the mayor of their municipality and to the academic director of the national education services (DASEN or DA-SEN). The first year, a survey will be conducted on the child by the mayor, which will be renewed every 2 years, until the age of 16.

“The objective of the survey is to control:

• The reasons why this mode of instruction is chosen by the family
• And if it is compatible with the health and living conditions of the family.

It does not concern the quality of the instruction, which falls under the pedagogical control ”, indicates the site of the public service. The child’s educational level and progress will be verified by the Dasen, “So that he masters all common base requirements when he turns 16 ”.

How is the program going?

For homeschooling, each parent is free to do as he wishes, choosing to follow the school path at the child’s pace with the means and methods he wishes. To validate his year, the child does not have national assessments as in CE1 and CM2.

The only difference is that its level will be checked by an academy inspector at least once a year. “The family must be informed in writing of the purpose and modalities of this control. However, the date and place of the check are not necessarily communicated to the family ”, specifies the site of public service.

During this check, the inspector looks at the knowledge and skills acquired by the child, “During an interview with the child’s parents. They specify on this occasion the approach and the teaching methods that they implement ”. The child will also have to do exercises (written or oral) adapted to his age and his state of health. “The inspector assesses that the knowledge and skills correspond to those expected, in particular at the end of each teaching cycle”, specifies the public service.

The results are then communicated to the parents of the child within 3 months. If the results are insufficient, the child will have a month to improve during a second check-up.“If the results of the second check are also deemed insufficient, the Dasen requires parents to enroll the child in a school (public or private) within 15 days of the notification”, indicates the site of the public service.

Parents disappointed with public education?

For many parents, school is no longer a safe place for children. “We entrust our children to a school, but we have the impression that they are not protected and that they are left to their own devices”, confided Ottavia, mother of a 14-year-old girl victim of bullying at school. Some criticize a program that is too theoretical, far from the current problems of society. Others wonder about the infantilization of children who are nevertheless autonomous or the desire for competition that the youngest can live badly.

The benefits of homeschooling

In 2017, no less than 25,000 children in France were involved in family education, i.e. 0.3% of children between 6 and 16 years old. In fact, homeschooling can have enormous advantages on the learning of your child, who finds himself in confidence within a space which is familiar to him:

• This learning method allows you to adapt to the rhythm of your child
• You can follow the school program according to his interests
• You can focus on your child’s “pet peeves” matters
• You can vary the fun activities according to his tastes
• Your child does not feel pressured for ongoing assessments
• The child can work by taking breaks whenever he wants (not too much either!)
• He has more time to be interested in areas other than compulsory education, such as art or even himself

A small rule is still to be observed, namely, install a unit of place for his school days. Indeed, you must avoid teaching in your child’s room, at the risk of finding him distracted by what surrounds him. Prefer the living room or the kitchen, if you have a table in this room. This marker will allow your child to realize that the moment he is in this room, he must get to work.

Jeanne, who takes courses through the CNED, lives it on a daily basis. She regularly accompanies her parents to museums, exhibitions … and spends a lot of time with her grandparents. There, she developed her artistic sense and a geographical and historical knowledge of an unusual finesse for an 8-year-old child.

Vary the activities

During these repeating days at home, it is important to offer fun activities to stimulate your child’s fine motor skills such as gardening, crafts, collage, personalization of jewelry or even Easter coloring. It is also an opportunity to put your child’s creativity to the fore, by imagining mime games, making riddles or even playing endless sentences. Also, it is possible to make your children listen to podcasts, available on Youtube, these explanatory videos focus on certain chapters of stories or even French.

To vary the activities and take a break from the school program, introduce your children to household chores such as hanging the laundry or tidying up their room. Also take advantage of these moments to do activities together such as cooking or gardening, a great way to learn and share moments with the family.

Read also :

Teaching “too difficult” at home?

During the first confinement, many parents had to go through the telework x home school box. According to an Aufeminin survey on the feelings of parents with their children during the first confinement, 12% of Internet users replied that they had lived a nightmare since the start of confinement. 64% admitted that it was a “not easy” period. In total, 76% of parents have encountered difficulties with their child since March 16. And only 24% say they have not encountered any problem (what luck!).

What are the sanctions ?

• If the declaration of family instruction is not communicated to the mayor and the Dasen at the start of the school year, the family risks having a fine of € 1,500.
• If the family opposes an educational check, the Dasen reports it to the Public Prosecutor.
• If the family refuses to enroll their child in a school after a second check, they are liable to a 6-month prison sentence and a € 7,500 fine.
• If the parents enroll their child in an illegally opened private school while the child is home schooled, they risk a 1 year prison sentence and a fine of € 15,000.

What helps ?

Parents who home school the child must send the family education certificate sent by Dasen to the Family Allowance Fund (Caf) to be entitled to benefits. Family allowances. However, the family cannot benefit from the back-to-school allowance (ARS) and the college or high school scholarship.