Abstract:

As the world is shaken by various unrest, educational institutions also face challenges. The pandemic situation, which has been going on for two years, has closed everyone in the house, both small and large. Children no longer had the opportunity to go to schools, parents were obliged to quickly adapt and become mentors for their children, playing the role of teachers, and teachers had to learn how to work in a virtual school. The reluctance of children to go to school was only exacerbated when they saw that there were opportunities for homeschooling, and parents decided. Many recent scientific papers touch on the problem of homeschooling, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, when even without choosing this form of education, families were forced to teach children at home (Petts, Carlson, Pepin (2021); Zhao, Xiao, Sun, et al. (2020). Scientists are interested in what effect the choice to educate children at home had on the recommended vaccination of children against COVID- virus and constant testing in educational institutions (Mohanty, Joyce, Delamate, Klein, etc. 2020). In scientific articles devoted to the analysis of the topics of education in the family, the fundamental reason why parents choose education in the family is highlighted: parents seek value-based teaching for their children that will prepare them for the future. Parents express the view that formal educational institutions are focused on the achievements of the mentee, and consider the preparation of the mentee to pass the exams as an essential task (Apriliana, Icmi and Suryono, 2019). Kaur (2018) conducted a study in order to find out the main reasons that determine the family's decision to educate a child not in an educational institution, but in the family, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of such a form of education. The reasons for such a decision can be very different - from the lifestyle of the family, beliefs, personal qualities of the child and ending with a personal approach to the educational system. Some families think that the home environment is more favorable for the child and in a shorter time he can learn much more and achieve higher academic achievements: with active learning, he will not need so much time to sit on the bench and listen. It is noted that parents take care of the emotional environment of their child and want to provide it - they are frightened by the culture of bullying that is common in school. Another reason is that families seek to devote as much time as possible to acquiring the necessary competences of their child, take greater account of the child's areas of interest, and create opportunities to experience more diverse, richer learning experiences than at school. In summary, the studies reviewed do not prove that education in the family is superior to education in school in terms of academic achievement and/or socialization and vice versa. The summarized results of the presented research show that parents who are determined to educate their children in the family and have chosen this form of teaching and learning are able to create excellent conditions and ensure that their children achieve high academic results. It should be noted that it is important to provide for and clearly regulate in law the safeguards protecting the interests of the mentees, when the process of education in the family is adjusted and, if necessary, the mentees are returned to the educational institution.

Keywords:

Home-schooling, challenges, School, parents.