0001 Third Time Home Educating

 Rarely given an opportunity for a father to serve thirty-five years as a home educator. Using the word "amateur" in its long-forgotten meaning: "do it for the love of doing it."

While professional teachers make a living teaching, a home educator usually pays a heavy price to assume this responsibility. I have twenty-two years of home education behind me and thirteen more years to go. I raised five girls and one son in two previous marriages, and now I am blessed with the opportunity to raise four boys.

My studies about various Homeschool programs started years before I pulled the trigger and became a homeschool dad. As an immigrant to the USA, it was much easier for me to see how the American education is broken. An interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger brought this issue to my attention in the early 1990s, where he stated that America is great. Still, there is one problem: the education system! Something is wrong with it, he said. From that point on, I started to pay attention. When the circumstances presented me with a decision, I made a quick and decisive step to remove my children from the elementary school they were attending.

I have never looked back since 2001, and while I did make many mistakes along the way, there are many wins I can be proud of. I continue to apply those wins in my third round of educating my children at home. 

Two decades ago, I could not find other home-educating fathers in my area. Going to Homeschool meetings, I was the only father, and moms always looked at me with suspicion: "Why is he teaching his children? Why not, mom?" I rarely had a chance to explain myself, so I stopped attending local meetings after a while. Today I am pleased to see many YouTube channels where homeschool fathers are present and sharing their experiences. 

An experience I have plenty of, and in time I might share some. Still, I rather focus on developing my YouTube channel as a tool for my boys to build a network of students around the world who are both age-compatible and share common interests in their studies. Years ago, I envisioned a VIRTUAL CLASSMATES  platform to do just this, but I think the timing was wrong, or I simply didn't make enough consistent effort to market the concept. So what do you think, what is a "Virtual Classmate" program would be like? Perhaps someone already built it; why not? It is a natural progression towards a more sophisticated education system where students can pick their classmates. It is the exact opposite of what traditional schools are doing. So instead of random encounters and forced sharing of space and time, we can do better! A flexible and voluntary system makes a lot more sense, inst it?

In the coming weeks and months, I plan to expand on this idea and start searching for such or similar programs. If you know one, would you let me know?

Zsolt Valer Zsofka

Home Educating my four boys: William (13) Harry (10) Leo (7) & Oliver (5)

in parallel with the traditional K12 education system.