Complementary English Home Schooling
The journey begins
Welcome to this publication. This is a blog about my journey in complementing the school education of my son with home schooling. It is intended for parents who want to conduct a complementary education in English but that are not necessarily living in an English-speaking country.
I began this journey after my relocation to Switzerland. Just a few days after arrival, it became apparent that there were some new risks associated with my son’s education:
The first risk was that my son could stagnate or even reverse in his English level. Our new host country is not friendly towards English, and I disagree with that approach. Neglecting the fact that all advanced science, technology knowledge, and even culture is, in our global connected world, conducted in English is a mistake. English is the new Latin, if the Swiss want to ignore this it is up to them, but for my son’s education English is a must.
The second risk was that the combination of an education system which begins abstract education a bit later than other countries and the necessary time for my son to learn the basics of the local language could create the perfect storm to trigger a halt in my son’s education.
And last but not least the high standard values in terms of democracy and global mindset, taught in the Nordics, could not be equally observed in Switzerland. The country poses a documented systemic issue with racism, has a track record of being a bit primitive country in terms of equity (women could not vote until 1971), and it is a very classist society where wealth effectively determines — or eliminates — your rights as a citizen. That does not resonate well with my European values and it is in contradiction with what my son learnt when living in Denmark.
Because of all those concerns, I decided to spend one quality hour after regular school. What works and what does not might be helpful for others, so I share my journey here.
