Homeschooling in South Africa
the better choice

Home schooling or Home education is legal in South Africa and is a fast growing market at about 20% per year. According to many media reports (see below), the education system in South Africa is not improving.Therefore parents in SA will have to face the fact that their decision to keep or to put their children in schools will have long-term consequences. It is important that parents realize that they do have a choice in the matter of their children’s education.Homeschooling in SA is the same concept as internationally and therefore all the information provided on this website can be read as applicable in SA.This page will provide some media citations from SA media as well as information on the Homeschool Trust in SA and South African curriculum providers.

A number of articles appeared in the media confirming the fact that South Africa’s education system is questionable :

· Beeld newspaper – School Shock, Children cannot read or count

· Beeld newspaper - Most in SA want private schools

· Rapport newspaper – Qualifications create a false image of literacy

· Cape Times newspaper – Matric not good enough for varsities

· Fair Lady magazine - Teaching in turmoil

· Rapport newspaper – Stop the schoollaw, Quality teaching are endangered)

· Rapport newspaper – Exam papers full of mistakes is no joke

· Business Day newspaper – School’s out and not just for the holidays

There were also a number of articles explaining and encouraging home schooling…. :

· Woman’s Value magazine – Lessons at home where 2 mothers’ experience with homeschooling is discussed and some advice on homeschooling is given.

· Beeld newspaper – Oos, wes, tuisleer bes (East, west, home learning best) a long article on the improved performance of homeschooled children above the public educated children. Dierdre Bester’s research paper is also discussed. For more info on her research see Research and statistics

· Taalgenoot magazine - Education options for you children, whereby research is cited done by Dr Esther de Waal and Dierdre Bester indicating that people who choose to home educate their children in SA do so for smiliar reasons as in the USA. It is also stated that there are a number of advantages to homeschooling, but that it requires a firm commitment from parents.

· Beeld newspaper – Tuisleerling vaar baie beter (Homeschoolers do better) had an article summarizing the fact that Home students do much better in language and number skills than their school counterparts.

· The Pretoria News newspaper – The pros and cons of homeschooling, where home schooling is discussed as a new trend in education as more South African parents choose to teach their children at home.

· Beeld newspaper – Leer tuis as boelies pla, (Teach at home if bullies bother) where safety reasons are discussed as another motivator for teaching your children at home, and positive results are discussed.

Although homeschooling in South Africa is legal there may still be some confusion and concerns for parents who are interested in homeschooling their children.The Pestalozzi Trust is the national legal defence fund for home education and provide specific information regarding the law in South Africa w.r.t. home education.They are doing continuous research and it is very beneficial to attend at least one of their information days they have on a regular basis. They can also be invited for an information session to your area.It is valuable to read the following articles/booklets available on their website, or just download it here :

Starter pack

Homeschool and the law in SA

They can be contacted in Pretoria on tel. 012 3301337 - Leendert and Karin van Oostrum.

Click here to go to the Pestalozzi Trust SA website

The most useful websites on South African homeschooling with general information include :

Kathy le Cordeur's list of resources/suppliers
Footprints on our Land (allround curriculum with a focus on SA history)

To connect with people in South Africa click here for instructions on becoming part of appropriate Yahoo groups in SA.

The well-known curriculum providers in SA include the following :(please do not go to the following providers before you have worked through the 7step process to improve your homeschool since it is more important to understand what you are looking for beforehand than to just read randomly without a specific focus.If you have gone through the process you will know what you are looking for in a curriculum provider and not be confused or overwhelmed by the information given)

For providers of a Textbook approach (some of them supply individual subjects) :

Theocentric Christian Education in SA
Accelerated Christian Education in SA
Love2Learn
Impak
Brainline/Breinlyn
Moria
Kenweb

For providers of Unit Studies approach materials (KONOS) and resources including some subjects supplied individually visit :

Oikos curriculum supplier

For general information on homeschooling while considering to home school go to 10 steps to help you decide.

Remind yourself of the Pros and cons of homeschooling summarized in table format.

For research and statistics go to Research and stats

10 Steps to survival will help you through the first days.

If you need to understand homeschool terminology better go to the Homeschool vocabulary page

Back to Introduction Page

Back to Homeschooling Curriculum Guide Home Page