Parents across the country are having to deal with the continued disruption that the Covid-19 pandemic is having on their children’s education.
Amid the seriousness of the second wave, the Department of Basic Education on 15 January announced the difficult decision to postpone the opening of schools to 15 February.
For many parents and their children, this delay is causing yet another period of anxiety, especially after the severe disruptions that last year’s hard lockdown had on schools. In addition, there are many families that have valid concerns about their health and safety when it comes to the return of their children to school.
The good news is that thanks to advances in online learning from Impaq, structured homeschooling is a fully viable alternative.
Over the last 19 years, almost 140,000 learners have placed their trust in Impaq, with over 24,000 learners choosing to go with us last year.
Here are four key reasons why home education can be the right fit for you and your child.
Fully online
At Impaq, we are not only the biggest home education provider in the country, but we are also an established leader when it comes to online and distance education for Grade R-12.
Our easy-to-use online portal is there to help parents take care of administrative tasks such as capturing marks, generating reports, and monitoring their child’s progress.
Our advanced Impaq learning platform technology further helps Grade 8 to 12 learners prepare for exams with video content, quizzes, and online tutoring in selected subjects.
Impaq’s education specialists can remotely guide you and your child on your learning journey and answer any academic queries you have.
Furthermore, Impaq parents get access to very detailed facilitator guides that inform them about how to teach a subject. These guides feature step-by-step instructions, lesson planning, assessment materials as well as video and online resources.
We also form part of the Optimi Group, which provides several other leading online education solutions such as CAMI Maths, one of the country’s best-known learning software tools.
Extra support
If needed, parents can also seek out the assistance of a tutor in specific curriculum areas. There are hundreds of tutors across South Africa, and all of them are conducting their teaching remotely via web technologies to comply with safe social distancing.
These tutors are independent of Impaq, but we do provide a list on our website to help you find a tutor near you. Our sister company, Tuta-Me, can also help you find the right tutor.
Once the level three lockdown period eases, parents may be interested to know that Impaq is affiliated with Optimi Campus, which is a first-of-its-kind home education facility for Grade 10 -12 where learners can receive more in-person support. Currently, there are Optimi Campus facilities in Lynwood, Tshwane as well as in Auckland Park, Johannesburg.
Pathway to matric
Impaq follows the same CAPS-aligned curriculum that every school in the country follows.
Learners who use Impaq’s solutions also fall under the South African Comprehensive Assessment Institute (SACAI), an examination body overseen by Umalusi.
Because of this, these learners write the same exams as every other school child in the country and they will receive a National Senior certificate upon successfully completing their matric.
This means that your child can easily shift back into a traditional schooling environment if you so choose in the future.
Choice
Home education learners have access to more subjects than those that are typically offered in schools.
In a school, learners at FET level (Grade 10-12) are usually restricted to choosing only a certain number of subjects, dependent on the resources available at the school. However, these same limits do not apply to home education learners as they have the choice to take on more extra subjects.
Added to this, home education learners have access to many more subjects that aren’t available at traditional schools, ranging from the likes of Hospitality Studies to Visual Arts. Home education learners through Impaq can also take their subjects in English or Afrikaans.
It’s clear that during these tough times, there are established options available to you to keep your child’s education on track.
Home education is a fully viable alternative that can make all the difference right now.
