A (mostly) successful story of teaching children at home

Press, 22 May 1986, Page 8

A (mostly) successful story of teaching children at home

Reviewed by Ashley Campbell. The book’s drawings are by the Mullarney family.

“Anything School Can Do, You Can Do Better” by Maire Mullarney. Fontana Paperbacks, 1985. Price, $7.95.

Most people believe they have to send their children to school. They do not realise that in many countries, including New Zealand, they can legally teach their children at home.

“Anything School Can Do, You Can Do Better” is written for people who choose to do this. Maire Mullarney is an Irish woman who educated all of her eleven children at home, for most of their primary years.

The book tells how she did this, and what happened to her children. Most of them went on to

careers that would be the envy of many people. The book raises some very interesting questions, such as what is the right age to teach a child to read. Several of Mrs Mullarney’s children were reading by the age of two. It also emphasises the importance of teaching

children in small groups, rather than large, unmanageable classes. Bear in mind that the book was written when classes of 40 were commonplace, and the strap was often used to teach spelling. Therefore, many of the criticisms of schools are no longer relevant.

However, some do still apply, and are very thought provoking. One of the dangers In this approach to education is made obvious by one of the Mullarney children. She was slightly dyslexic — something that was not picked up until' several years after she should have been reading. Without training, parents may not spot such problems. The book is well set out, with several different sections. One of the sections is called “Resources.” It explains many of the resources the Mullarney family used, and how they can be made. Most of the resources would be very good educational play equipment, even when the children did attend school.

“Anything School Can Do, You Can Do Better” is well-written and thought provoking. I would recommend it for all parents, whether or not they wish to educate their children at home.