School's out for the home-educators [IrishTimes]
- Published: 24 May 2011
A USUAL morning for mother-of-three Aoife Duffy begins with her daughter Riana asking for a maths lesson. “She’ll bring me the book, bring me her abacus, I’ll show her how to do one or two sums and she’ll go at it then.”
Duffy is sitting feeding her baby in Imaginosity Dublin Children’s Museum. She drives here from Westmeath every fortnight with Joe (6), Riana (5) and Liam (6 months) to meet others from Hen (the Home Education Network).
Duffy is one of 1,000 or so parents in Ireland – published research on exact figures is scant – who have challenged convention by educating their children at home. “I can’t believe how much they want to learn stuff. We don’t do structured lessons, we don’t do a certain amount every day, but I found that from a very early age my son wanted to learn the alphabet.”
Things have come a long way since the 1980s and 1990s when Duffy herself was home-schooled with her 10 siblings. Home education has emerged from the shadows since it became regulated by the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, which safeguards every child’s constitutional right to a “minimum education”.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
