Home education as an alternative to a comprehensive school. Homeschooling is an alternative to school

Once I came across one quote, and in it I found everything that I felt about the school - and I realized that I needed to talk about it. So that others who live the way it is customary can think about it. Stay. Get inspired.

“And they created the school just as the devil had commanded them. The child loves nature, so he was locked in four walls. The child likes to know that his work has some meaning, so everything was arranged so that his activity did not bring any benefit. He cannot remain motionless - he has been forced to be immobile. He loves to work with his hands, and he was taught theories and ideas. He likes to talk - he was ordered to be silent. He seeks to understand - he was told to learn by heart. He would like to seek knowledge himself - they are given to him ready-made ...

And then the children learned what they would never have learned in other conditions. They have learned to lie and pretend. And that's what happened. As the devil wanted it, some people withered, became lethargic and passive, lost all interest in life. They lost happiness and health. Lost love and kindness. Thoughts became dry and gray, souls hardened, hearts embittered.

Adolf Ferrier (early 20th century, Switzerland)

I ask myself one question all the time. God gave me a child. For me to educate him secularly and teach him how to make money? So that I can hand it over as a storage room somewhere and continue to do my super-important business? To make me proud of his A's in chemistry? So that he would bring me a glass of water in my old age? Or to wash the dishes and clean the room for them?

Or was the child given to me so that first I myself would find answers to my inner questions, and then tell him? So that I can help him cultivate the best qualities of character? It is generally stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam that unless a person is sure that he can deliver the soul of a child who comes to him from the cycle of birth and death, he should not become a parent. In the past, this was a very serious question.

Therefore, every moment of our life with children is valuable for me. Where they spend the most time affects them the most. The people with whom they connect more and more deeply determine their values and path. And I don't want to risk putting kids in a random number generator called school. This is not a casino to watch whether you won or lost, whether it worked out or not, whether the risk is justified. The stakes are too high to be thrown around like that. For me, the souls of children are more important than the system and correctness.

Once I thought that only we had better schools somewhere. I was wrong. The principle is the same everywhere. And in almost every country, the school system is outdated, there is not much useful in them, but somewhere the child’s psyche is at least less harmed. But still there are single schools that inspire. Schools that might be helpful. Schools to which I could send my children, if such were nearby.

What schools would be helpful?

Schools with real teachers.

Such as Shalva Amonashvili. Loving children with all their hearts, loving their work. Happy and harmonious personalities who have a lot to learn. But are there many such teachers?

Schools with separate education for boys and girls.

It's always been that way before. And only now, because it is more profitable, the flows have been combined. Although they need to be taught in different ways and in different ways. And if there is a person of the opposite sex in the class, it is more difficult to study. It is to study. Yes, and maintain chastity, and clarity of mind - too.

home schools.

Where several children are taught together, with love and understanding of their features and differences. Such schools are now emerging. There is a lot of love in them, but unfortunately, there are too many features.

spiritual schools.
As it was several hundred years ago - schools at monasteries, temples, gurukulas. This knowledge and experience is not enough now. And we all need it every day. There are Sunday schools, and this is already a good addition to regular education. But this is not enough - too rare and small compared to the rest. To be honest, I would gladly take the boys to a good gurukula - at least for a year, two or three.
Mastery Schools.
Musical, artistic, dance. Not in their current form, of course. Where children would gather not by age and region, but by interests. Where they would be happy to do something together, share, exchange.
Schools for future and mothers.
This is what is sorely lacking. But such a school cannot be mass, to a greater extent such a school should exist in every house where there is a little girl. But alas, mother has no time to deal with nonsense, and her daughter must receive a “normal” education.
Schools of real men.
A place where the boys would receive the necessary physical training, the knowledge necessary for life, and could develop the necessary qualities. Where are these schools? There are practically none.

But there is another alternative to schools. Homeschooling, family schooling or unschooling - life without school - is a new, rather fashionable trend. It can be organized in different ways. It has pros and cons. Let's tell you how I see it.

How can homeschooling be arranged?

Teachers coming from school every day

There is a possibility; I know that many people use it. This happens for free if the child has health problems. But I am sure that it is possible to negotiate personally with those teachers that you like.

Tutors for various subjects

You can invite a teacher for each subject - it will turn out to be a tidy sum. Yes, and I don't see the need for it. It seems to me that tutors are needed precisely for the most favorite subjects that the child is most interested in.

Monthly preparation for exams

Many parents said that, on average, a child can master the annual school program in a month or two of intensive classes. And at the end of the year he passes the necessary exams. When the rest of the time he does what he wants, and then he studies with a teacher, for example. It will be cheaper than inviting a teacher every day, it will not be so extended in time, and there will be an opportunity to develop in other places.

Pass exams at once for many years

Few people know, but in our country you can come to school and take an exam for any class. That is, if you have never been attached anywhere, but come and pass all the necessary exams at once, then you will be given a certificate. That is, you can not take the same thing every year with a different sauce, but do it only once. Although this requires more awareness from parents.

self-teach

I know mothers who take textbooks themselves and go through them step by step with their children. Not suitable for everyone, because even doing homework with children is a test. And to learn from and to - it's how much patience you need!

Internet sites for schoolchildren

I have already heard several times that there are schools that already organize online learning. There, the child has assignments, plans, and exams. In foreign schools there are already so many places, and in Russia it is also found. And besides, there are many sites for schoolchildren, where they can solve examples, do assignments, get practice and theory of the necessary subjects. Here, of course, you need to be very careful - there are so many things on the Internet that are not very useful for children.

Interest groups

This is the answer, rather, to the question of where to get communication and how to stay at home all the time. I am for children to communicate - where there are children with the same hobbies. For example, art, music, choreographic schools, and so on, provided that the child himself is ready to go there and he likes it. There are also sports sections, creative workshops and other less “strict” institutions where everything is not so serious and complicated.

That is, you need to choose any options based on your capabilities and the needs of the child. What exactly he wants, what suits you, what talents he has.

What are the benefits of unschooling?

Flexibility.

The program is tailored to the child, his interests and abilities.

The child can choose when, what and how deeply to engage. He becomes the main one. That is education for the child, not the child for education.

Flexibility and graphics, and programs.

Opportunity to choose communication.

Maybe it is much more interesting for a child to be friends with those who are older? Or vice versa with the younger ones? Or with musicians, artists? There is such an opportunity when you choose your communication.

Minimum stress for the child and parents

I heard an interesting observation from a mother of many children, whose children study at home. That there is no stress in the house since the children stopped going to school. There is no more morning rush, and instead of it - a long family breakfast, there is no need to wake up the children strenuously, to drive them out of the house. And the kids are learning! Also yourself! Sit, read, solve problems.

No need to put children in some mold that it is not clear who came up with

Our fears of “what people will think” are very much aggravated at school, there they can think about us more than anyone, and, of course, they will. That's what the system was made for. Many different conditions are imposed on the child in the system, many of which only seem reasonable and correct.

Lots of free time

The child has a lot of free time. And you can decide for yourself what to do with it, what he can do. Developing abilities, talents, or just having time to be a kid and just play. Many parents are now convinced that free time is bad. But it is much worse when it is completely absent from childhood.

No unnecessary comparisons and competitions

At school, there is no way without it. Worst and best, fives and threes, who is faster - and so on. Children are compared according to grades, abilities, some are cited as an example, others as an anti-example. At home, you can do without all this. And easy enough.

You can teach what you want and not be afraid that someone will spoil it

Many mothers say that what is the point of teaching a child morality if they explain to him at school that this is the last century? Likewise, any spiritual knowledge in schools will be discounted.

But if you teach a child at home, then it is you who decide what is basic and what is additional. And you can pay more attention to what, in your opinion, the child will need more in life.

For example, for cooking.

Curiosity persists.

The child receives all knowledge exactly when he is ready for it. He's really interested to know how and why it all works. He himself is looking for answers to his questions, asks his parents, acquaintances.

I heard an interesting way from some parents. They have many children, so very important things are explained only to one person and in secret. And everyone else is told that this is secret information, and only this person owns it. And that's all. They themselves find knowledge, extract it, master it - and use it.

Spend more time and attention on what you like

There is one interesting video on the Internet, a teenager talks about how he studies without school. His passion is skiing. And he learns everything else through skiing, can we think of such a thing? No. How is this related? And what about skiing? And for him, they are the key that triggers his interest and inspiration, which are then sent to the study of other subjects. At school, there is no time to waste time looking for a key to everyone. Yes, and not rationally - how then to teach them all? But at home, you can.

The ability to feed your baby the way you want.

Who cares, but in a regular school it’s not easy for a vegetarian. I know, I've often been in ordinary canteens where everyone tries to stick a cutlet in you. I had to eat buns. Everything else was meat. Now I can feed my kids homemade, wholesome, vegetarian meals throughout the day. And at the same time, no good aunts can persuade them to eat sausage. Nice unschooling bonus.

Time for sports and creativity

When there is free time, it can be directed to important things. For example, sports for boys. On creativity and home arts for girls. All this can become a normal background of life, and not an exclusive once a week activity. Interesting thing. It seemed to me before that our children do not do any sports. After all, we don’t take them anywhere on purpose, and then I was surprised. Every day they spend an average of 4-5 hours in the pool. Sometimes more, sometimes less. They dive, practice holding their breath, try different styles of swimming. Every day for several years now. At the same time, if a child is taken twice a week to the pool in the city for an hour-long lesson (plus another hour or two for the road back and forth), it is considered that he is engaged in swimming. This is how our own brain deceives us.

Real Deep Relationships

When a child learns at home, with parents, together with parents, your bonds become stronger and stronger.

You just see each other more often, communicate more often, you have more joint adventures and experiences. And this has a very positive effect on your relationship. The child is attached to you, not to the society of immature peers. And that's great.

The child learns to live in a family.

An ordinary school child does not know how to live in a family, it becomes uncomfortable and incomprehensible for him there. And there is no deep contact, and I’m used to being entertained, distracted, occupied. And in the family, other laws apply. And homeschooling also teaches how to live in a family. It just teaches in passing. But such an important and useful skill.

Less disease

This is very important for children with weak immunity. The health of children at school is always falling. Viruses, bacteria, epidemics flourish there in the format of one school. Children exchange all this, get sick, infect each other. When a child studies at home, he is much less likely to get sick. The experience of many families confirms this. And besides, you don’t have to “draw” fake vaccinations here if you don’t put them.

You choose how to present the material and where to put accents.

For example, why does a child need biology if it says nothing about healthy eating, daily routine, how to take care of your health? Why does a child need to study physics divorced from life, when you can learn it by examples, setting up simple experiments? You decide which books the child needs to read now, which later, and you can explain to him that classical literature is not a guide to action and not a standard. These are just stories from which different conclusions can be drawn. And yes, you can help your child form the right principles.

The ability to travel

Unschooling opens up opportunities not only during the holidays and longer than 2 weeks. The opportunity to live in different countries, spend the winter in the summer, learn many things not from books, but live, learn languages, study other cultures.

We can say that the child will grow up like an ignoramus. But for some reason it seems to me that those who are so raped by education that they do not take books in their hands and do not study anything themselves are more like ignoramuses.

I know examples of children who started reading "late" - at the age of 9 or 10. And for several years then they consciously re-read not only the school, but also the in-depth program. With a complete understanding of what they read - and with great interest. I will never forget one such girl. She so sincerely admired the style of Dostoevsky and his descriptions, such genuine interest and depth! And she was only 13 years old. I read Dostoevsky at the age of 15-16, and he aroused admiration far from immediately, but at the age of 20. And which of us is an ignoramus?

But in general, yes, I foresee "delights". It’s good for this Valyaeva to speak! She herself has a diploma and a certificate, but she raises her children uneducated and unpromising!

Yes, I do have a conventional education. And even higher. But what more did it give me - benefit or harm? Would I be “sillier” if I didn’t go to school? Would you be healthier?

I learned to read at the age of 6, before school. I read all my favorite books outside the school curriculum and even in spite of it: there, after all, it was necessary to read Chernyshevsky, and I was fond of Lermontov. Lermontov, at whose school they passed briefly, in contrast to the same Pushkin. And they forced me to teach Pushkin, although at that time I continued to teach Lermontov.

I never used physics or chemistry or history or biology anywhere, which I had to cram instead of drawing, writing stories and walking. With geography, everything was very bad for me, and on my travels I discovered the world from scratch, or even from a minus - contrary to school knowledge. It was the same with astronomy - the world turned out to be much more interesting than it was in this boring textbook. It was the same with difficulty - the school gave me such an aversion to women's affairs and needlework that it still haunts me. But initially I was interested in cooking, and sewing, and embroidering.

Yes, at school I was lucky with the first English teacher, and thanks to her I fell in love with the language. But what would happen if I continued to study the language with a good teacher, in my own mode and in the way that interests me, and did not gouge the same topics like London is a capital of the Great Britain? How much better would my language be now? Especially conversational?

As, by the way, and my self-esteem, which had such a hard time at school. I didn’t really fit anywhere with my introversion. And then I found the image of “my boyfriend”, I did what I didn’t like myself in order to get the communication of people with whom I had never communicated since then ... That is, I betrayed myself many times over the years for no reason at all .

The school gave me the feeling that the world is a hell in which you have to survive, that men are stupid and women are treacherous. That no one cares. Nobody needs your talents. That being yourself is a waste of time. What it takes to make money. And the rest doesn't matter. That friendship does not exist. That love is also a fairy tale. The school taught me to lie, command, swear, arrogance and the desire for grades instead of knowledge.

Now we have 90 percent of people with education, more than half of them also have higher education. So what? At the same time, there are very few people who are happy, there are also very few harmonious families, only a few and those who have found and realized themselves. But every year more and more people are looking for their own, and the meaning of life. And someone finds himself, and someone drowns out the pain of his own loss with alcohol, computer games and shopping. Do we need such education? Or is it time for a change?

And by the way, getting a certificate if necessary at any age is not difficult. But to get a base that can be laid in family education, somehow later it will not work. Alas.

But lest you think that unschooling is easy, I want to dispel your myths. It won't suit everyone. Far from everyone. It has some pretty significant downsides.

Responsibility is yours alone.

This is the most important and terrible minus. Strictly speaking, she is always on you, these are your children. But at school there is always the opportunity to blame the school itself for something bad. They taught a child bad things there, they spoiled it. It won't work at home. Everything that the child has - you yourself have invested.

Learn to live differently and manage time differently.

In the usual picture, you rent a child somewhere for the whole day and you can enjoy and do your own thing. And how to manage to live with a child without handing it over anywhere? How to learn to trust him, leaving him alone at home, for example? Or how to do things with him (which can be extremely useful for him in general)? Parents who teach their children themselves will have to change. And strong enough.

Learn by yourself.

If a child is studying at home, his parent should be one step ahead. That is, we ourselves cannot stop in our development, because it is necessary to set an example, to inspire. We must answer their questions, study, dive. There is no one to whom it can be pushed. We will have to finally become educated ourselves, and not try to appear as such.

Change your priorities.

When you yourself teach children, you need to give up perfectionism, the race for grades, the arguments “it’s just necessary and that’s it.” You'll have to get rid of your own school luggage - and it won't be easy. You will need to reconsider both your role in the child's life and the child's role in your life. It is not so easy.

Adoption.

You will need tremendous acceptance. Because it is easy to force, it is easy to drive everyone into one form. And to see that each child needs his own, and to accept this is difficult. Waiting for a child to become interested in reading is more difficult than getting him to read and write. Accepting his unwillingness to learn English now is difficult. Especially when all the children have been learning it for a long time. It is very difficult. But what a powerful training!

You will be stalked.

Everyone who is different from the majority receives increased attention. And far from positive. Get ready for hundreds of questions that no one wants to hear answers to, for gloomy forecasts, for being called irresponsible cultists (weird, right? Consciously choosing to educate a child is irresponsible, but putting him in a high-security general cell is taking care of him future). You will be told that you are ruining the life of a child, and so on and so forth.

The cons are quite serious. That's why I say that this system is not for everyone. It would be easier for many to find a home school, to reconsider their personal approach to all this, for example, not to give an after-school program and not torturing them with lessons. But I am sure that unschooling is the future. Because he is able to reveal the potential of the child and strengthen his relationship with his parents.

Entering unschooling out of desperation and not understanding how else to educate a child in such a way as not to cripple his personality, you will come out of him completely different people. This experience will change you and your children and your relationship with them. This is a real transformation, which is quite painful in the process.

This is our choice, and everyone makes it independently. Even by the fact that it does not make it, it still chooses something. And it's good that now there are opportunities for this. On the Internet you can find a lot of experience of parents whose children do not go to school. Read the legal aspects, and psychological, and how to teach, and what to teach. But this is all secondary. There would be a desire - there will be tools. The only question is what we choose for our children today.

To be continued…

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Olga Valyaeva

21.12.2015

Here is a text interview on the topic of home education. I interviewed - Anastasia Sinichkina answered my questions. Anastasia is a mother of two children, the girl went to first grade, and the boy goes to kindergarten. Anastasia was faced with a choice: send the child to the first grade in a regular school or follow the path of alternative education. What came out of it and how the problem was eventually solved, you will learn by reading this article.

Text interview:

Michael: Hello dear friends. Mikhail Gavrilov is in touch with you. And I have a very good friend, Anastasia Sinichkina, visiting me. She has already solved the issue of home education, and now we will find out exactly how. Nastia hello!

Anastasia: Hi all! I hope my experience, which I will share today, will be useful.

Michael: Let's immediately start torturing you with questions))) The first question so far is this, for buildup. Much is said about the fact that it is bad in an ordinary school, poor children, there they are tortured in every way. And then I don’t understand who grows out of them. But on the other hand, both you and I went through an ordinary school with you. Yes? Why did you choose an alternative method of education? After all, we grew up somehow and everything is fine like?

Anastasia: Well, as far as I'm concerned, we didn't grow up somehow. But for me it was not so simple... That's interesting, by the way, if you ask, say one word-association for the word school.

Michael: Fun.

Anastasia: Fun…. For me, the word school equals stress, that is, we usually apply our personal experience anyway, when we start to go somewhere, we begin some kind of search. And since for me and my spouse there were very similar terms in relation to school, with the advent of my own children, thoughts already arose in order to look for some alternatives. And the second such strong moment that pushed us to this search in general was the film "Summer Hill". I recommend everyone to watch it, I don't know if you watched it yourself or not. About a wonderful school in England, about free education.

That's when we watched it ... I watched - and, frankly, tears flowed from me when I realized the horror of the school system in general and what alternatives there are. So it turns out that two years before our eldest daughter was supposed to go to school, we began to look for alternatives. They began to look for them all over the world. Because we thought that there were no alternatives in Russia at all. Therefore, we must start immediately from England, and we went to England to look there.

Michael: Here is an interesting question. It turns out that now a lot of people somehow work remotely, do business. Maybe there is an opportunity somehow in other countries and study remotely ... But in the end you still chose Russia. Yes?

Anastasia: Yes. In fact, let's say, at the moment we are in Russia, and we realized that for us as a whole, as a family, for all family members to be as comfortable as possible, the best option is Russia. There are amazing schools in Thailand, in Bali, there are great schools in Europe. But in Russia you can also find completely different alternatives. At least go to some school, at least choose options for family or home education.

Michael: Understood. Look, and here ... by the way, about stress. What stress did you have at school after all?

Anastasia: My stress was expressed, first of all, in the presence of this evaluation system. I realized that even until now, while working on myself, I have not completely eradicated this problem, when someone evaluates you all the time and you must correspond to someone else's assessment. If you do not match, then it's kind of bad, if you match, then it's good, so you follow the assessment more than your desires. For me, probably, the most stress was expressed in grades, well, and in the fact that since I changed several schools, I had to catch up with the program somewhere, I was adapting to the new team. Although this, perhaps, was even to a lesser extent than the evaluation system itself.

Michael: Understood. That is, not very good memories remained. Listen, it turns out that in two or three years you started thinking about alternative education for children?

Anastasia: Yes, two years before going to school. We decided to go to school from the age of seven. Again, this needs to be looked at for each child. Someone is good to go at six, someone is good to go at eight. Look at your child, how ready he is and, above all, not mentally, not that he can read, count or do something else. As far as he is ready in general to receive knowledge in a regular systematic manner. Because it doesn't matter which school you go to, it's regular, systematic learning.

See if the child is ready to be in some new team. As soon as the child is ready, then you can say that yes, you need to go to school. We started studying this two years ago. First, in such a lazy mode, then for the last year in a very, very active mode, a constant search. And we found a solution for ourselves. If you want, I will still voice it so that the audience can understand it.

Michael: This, of course, we will not keep secret. Of course, speak up! It turns out that there were several solutions? Well, if we talk about Moscow. Yes? For example?

Anastasia: Yes, there were a lot of decisions, so to speak. And, probably, Moscow in this sense is a little wider in terms of opportunities. Although, as I understand it, in principle, in any other city, similar solutions can be found in the same way. That is, what the alternatives were reduced to. First of all, this is a variant of a private school in general. But we didn't choose a private school just for the sake of knowledge. That is, some kind of cool school with some kind of cool English, cool mathematics, where children are such small adults who study all day, and in the evening all the green ones come and study at home again until midnight. In the morning they get up, go to study, study, study again. No, we dismissed such options immediately. We were attracted by alternatives to private schools, where there is a non-judgmental system, there is no such barracks, where love for children and interest in learning are put at the head, first of all, in order to preserve and increase this interest in children.

We found such a school, but it turned out to be not very conveniently located for us logistically. There are schools ... you can look for different ones. There is Shchetinin's school, somewhere it is located, there are separate, special schools in different cities. There is a system, the Waldorf method, and it seems to me that in any, at least a large city, you can find Waldor schools. As far as I know, firsthand, there is actually an amazing approach. In fact, there are such Waldor classes in some public schools, there are classes according to the Zhokhov system. But there are very few of them in Russia so far.

Of course, they appear and expand, and even some enterprising parents themselves organize, as it were, private mini-classes within the framework of public schools. For us, this was also an option. But almost all of these options came up against the fact that they are located on the other ends of Moscow, and the city is so big that it is not very rational to drive an hour or two in one direction every day. And, accordingly, a slightly different side of the generally complete alternative to the classical school is home education.

But it is called differently: home, family. For the state, this is generally called correspondence education. When you study at home, you yourself organize some kind of activity for your child. Mom, dad can teach the child. It could be some kind of tutor, it could be a mini-class that just isn't a formal system. That is, you study however you want, but you come to school and just pass there ... well, like, exams, or something. Control work is different. Here we have chosen for ourselves the last option - home education.

Michael: It's clear. The option is debatable. I wrote an article just on this topic, and, in principle, of course, everyone agreed that the ideal system is an alternative, but when it comes to home education, there are a lot of questions and doubts about socialization.

Anastasia: Yes. In fact, this is a really cool question, but here I would say how ... what did I single out for the school, why is the school, in principle, needed. As if there are three points. The first point is knowledge, but we found how to acquire knowledge in a different way, and I even have some doubts about the extent to which the school carries the correct knowledge. How modern is the education system, whether it correctly gives programs in mathematics, Russian, and literature. We closed this question for ourselves.
The second point is paperwork. For many, they are important. I can’t say yet if it is important for us, so we attached ourselves to a regular school for insurance. That is, in the end, it doesn’t matter how we will continue to study, we have the observance of a certain attestation form.

And the third point, for which, in fact, a school is needed is socialization. This is undeniably important. But it would be a mistake to think that homeschooled kids are greenhouse plants that are planted at home, locked in a room, put a lock on it and, like, sit and study. You will only communicate with your mother. It seems to me that very often children at home are as socially adapted as children who go to school. Or even more. Because they have more choice about what they do, how they spend their time, who they communicate with, and how they communicate. That is, not only through the imposed rules, when you communicate only with your students. It is possible to choose where and how to spend your free time.

From the point of view of socialization, we have special classes. Twice a week we attend a mini-school of creative bias. We go to the center of aesthetic education. That is, the daughter leaves for half a day. There are mini-lessons, there is a mini-class, in which they already have some kind of relationship. Boys, girls, someone likes someone, someone looks after someone, there are friends, there is something else. That is, there is socialization. The rest of the time, the child himself chooses whether to go for a walk with friends on the street now, go to visit his brother or do something else. That is, in any case, communication is important at this age for children, very important. The task of parents is to help create some kind of social circle, plus the child additionally chooses for himself, in a bunch of free time, where to distribute it and what to do.

Michael: How does self-study happen in the exact sciences?

Anastasia: It is difficult for me to say how children who go to middle or high school then study, I am not yet considering education for us specifically for middle and high school. In elementary school, things are much easier. Because here, in fact, everything comes down to three or four subjects - the Russian language, copywriting, literature and mathematics. We have chosen for ourselves such an option that we have a teacher. As I say, a teacher from God, whom we met by some lucky chance in life, and my daughter goes to her lessons twice a week. Where she gets all the knowledge in two hours twice a week, and that's enough. This is instead of going five days a week for half a day, as other children go to a classical school.

Michael: Two hours twice a week?

Anastasia: Yes, it turns out that in total it takes her four hours to attend classes, and the rest of the time to do homework.

Michael: A lot of homework is given, what does it look like?

Anastasia: There is enough homework, but there is still a lot of time left. Here is a moment why we chose this option. It seems to someone: well, is it really impossible to explain to a child what two plus two is, how to write the word mom, etc. But personally, I think that everyone should do their own thing, everyone is a professional in their field, in order to lay the right foundation, the foundation, the bricks for the Russian language, for not the simplest mathematics and for logic ... It’s better that this is done by a professional who knows how present this or that rule in the most understandable, intelligible way for the child. If the child does not understand in one way, the teacher's baggage will have ten more different ways to convey this or that knowledge.

In addition, another point: the combination of the role of mother and the role of teacher. This is such a very painful topic for many families, because when a parent and child sit down to study, stress begins, tears begin. Either everything ends in tantrums, or mom backs out. Unfortunately, I have met children who are home-educated and who are slightly neglected in terms of mastering the main program. It can be seen that the child lacks a foundation. Therefore, we decided to separate these roles for ourselves, so as not to create a stressful situation. The child goes to classes twice a week, then comes and independently studies at home. If she has any difficulties, I help her understand this or that subject, but this way she organizes her time on her own and does her homework on her own.

Michael: So, two hours a week, four hours in total, homework... and by the time, have you looked at how much net time is spent on homework? That is half an hour a day, an hour a day? What does it look like?

Anastasia: Net time, from class to class, takes three hours to complete homework. That is, after school, she can come and sit down immediately to do all her homework, she can stretch, for example, this for two days, do half, the next day another half, but we are ahead of the program. Now in the first grade, she is already mastering the second grade program. We do not have a goal to rush somewhere, but we also do not want to sit on the same letter, write it many times. Somewhere we lag behind the classical program, somewhere we generally go against it, somewhere we are ahead of it, but in any case we move so that the child has his own pace, which allows him to learn something new and not lose interest.

Michael: And such a question: the child is already relatively adult, knows about the existence of the school, that there is such an institution - the school. There are a lot of kids there. "Mom, why don't I go to school?" Do such questions arise?

Anastasia: In fact, her cousin, who lives right next door, with whom she communicates every day, goes to a classical school. And, of course, this question arises, and she somehow comes into contact with the school: she goes there to take tests. But I don't see sadness yet. Again, I repeat: it’s not like we decided to break away from school forever, and I said: “That’s it, you will never go there again.” I ask her: “Do you want to go to such a school?” She hasn't expressed her desire yet. Yes, she has nothing to compare to.

She had the only sadness when ... "But all the children will go to first grade, they have bows, uniforms, etc." I told her: “Do you want a uniform?” She said yes. And we bought a school uniform. That is, it is not needed, but we went and bought a school uniform, went to the celebration of the first of September with flowers, everything is classic, as everyone imagines the first of September. The holiday took place. Then all the other things that she imagines about the school - this is communication with friends or something else, she appears in other places. That is, she says: “But the girls, the boys are discussing something else there.” Then she herself tells that she also sits in her classes and discusses some points.

Michael: That is, look, it turns out that you are attached to the school, but the question will immediately arise for those who listen to us: in what secret way, which office you need to go into, who to pull, who to knock on. And … at the end of the academic year, are there any exams? How is certification carried out?

Anastasia: How is this issue formally resolved? In fact, our state allows forms of alternative education. There are three of them. The first option is home education, this is for those children who have medical problems. That is, they cannot attend the class for some reason. They take a certificate, go to school. They are called homemakers. The teachers come to them. Maybe for some of the students this will also be an option if for some reason the child cannot go to class. The other two options are, in fact, absolutely the same for me, but for the state they are somewhat different. One is called correspondence, the other is either family or remote. The difference is actually in the frequency of appearance at school. With correspondence - you appear at school once a quarter, with another - you appear only at the end of the year.

We chose the option of distance learning, when we just need to appear at school once a quarter, come to the teacher and write some test papers there. Formally, such forms are allowed in schools. They are authorized and approved by the state. The problem is that not all schools want to go for it. Why? Because a certain overall score is important for the school, they have certain ratings. These rankings are important to them. And, of course, when they take on some student whose training they cannot fully follow, for them it is such a pig in a poke. And many of the directors are afraid that such a student is attached to the school. Therefore, you can go and start fighting and demand that such a student attach himself, but it’s better to find a school with a loyal director, where, perhaps, two or three such students have already unlearned.

Search the forums. which schools they belong to. That is, this school may be located quite far away, but it will not matter to you, you go there only four times a year. It can be located on the other side of the city - and it's okay to spend two hours on the road. The most important thing is that you meet and talk with the teacher who will be taking your lessons. They asked him: “Do you agree to give us four hours for the whole year?” One hour in a quarter? The teacher says, "Yes." And when the teacher says “yes” and the director says “yes”, everything becomes quite simple.

You come, write an application, formally attach yourself to the school. What other solution is there? Because I know that in some cities, unfortunately, such problems arise. It is not customary in a small town for someone to study at home. “Ah, you are so smart, you are a white crow, we will not treat you like that, we will flunk you at control tests,” or something else. Alas, such thinking still exists in some cities.

There is another alternative. It's called distance education. Fortunately, there are caring teachers or former directors of some schools who have organized private distance learning systems. That is, these are Internet sites through which you can teach your child and to which, among other things, you can even attach yourself quite legally and officially. That is, for example, I know such a system, it is called an external office, there are others like it, I just don’t remember the name. Some kind of external home training. In fact, you conclude an agreement with them, send them documents, and your physical appearance is necessary only at the end of the ninth grade, when the USE exam is taking place. All other exams can be taken online.

This organization undertakes to take this exam, and it is already officially accountable to the state for the fact that they have a child attached. It doesn't matter where the school is. I know that the External Office has its own school in Novosibirsk, that is, you will be attached to the school in Novosibirsk. It also costs some money. If you are not using this system for continuous learning, but only for attachment, this is also a good option. It turns out that you don’t come, don’t annoy anyone in your regular school, no one points a finger at a child, because I have read all these terrible stories about children who study at home ... A child comes, everyone starts pointing a finger, the teacher says: “Yes Are you the smartest one?" Expresses to parents. Therefore, there are actually a lot of alternatives if you start looking for them.

Michael: Another question that often comes up. That is, the child is still in such an atmosphere, a loyal environment. That is, he is at home, if he went to the teacher, the atmosphere there is kind, good, everything is in pink. Some parents have fears that if a child does not come into contact with the real world for a long time, he will allegedly grow up as a non-adaptive. He will go out into the world around him, he will see that in fact everything is not so rosy there, that there are evil people around us, etc. Did you have such a question or some kind of fear?

Anastasia: This question, of course, was, and we, too, are not in rose-colored glasses, we understand what can happen later. Here I would give this advice. Look at the child. In fact, there are children who, as they say, are shown a classical school. No matter how strange it may sound. It is better to try to choose a teacher who will be more loyal to the children and will take into account the interests of the child.

For example, the same notorious nephew of mine, he studies in a classical school, but he is not a student of the classical system at all. That is, he can, well, let's say, resist this system, his parents see that his system will not ruin it. But without a permanent team it is difficult for him. He is very sociable, very active, enterprising, well-read, etc. and thanks to the teacher they have in a regular school… the teacher gives him super tasks, gives him some interesting projects. At a time when everyone is reading “mother washed the frame”, he sits and reads some thick book. On the literature can answer on this book the question.

There are children who are even better off going to a regular school. There are children who need small groups. There are children who need their nervous system to get stronger and ready to enter this real, cruel world a little later. Therefore, I will not say that homeschooling is a unique recipe for everyone. A friend of mine who has five children… each child learned differently from her. That is, despite the fact that the younger children are just now in the first grade with my daughter, the older child has long since finished school. For each child, she chose her own type of education.

At some point in their lives, almost every one of them has tried homeschooling. But then again, the houses are not in the classical system that is only in the home walls. For example, a child formally, in absentia, studies at school, but goes to some kind of biological circles, sections. Some children studied part of the time in a classical school, part of the time one of the children studied at a Jewish school, although he is not a Jew. As they say, look at the child, what is more important to him.

Maybe for one it is more important now to have maximum psychological adaptation, and for another it is more important not to lose interest in learning, because he is passionate about something. Then he needs to be given some stronger school, where this or that skill will develop more actively. Therefore, answering your question: “What to do next and how will our child prepare for this cruel world?”, - now we are creating such conditions so that the child can feel as independent as possible. So that she can make decisions, so that she maintains an interest in learning within the framework of her studies. Because for me personally, the main thing is why a school is needed: in order for the child to learn how to extract knowledge and to maintain this interest in learning.

That is, burning eyes are an indicator of a good school for me. If you were able to organize so that he goes to school with burning eyes, then this is an excellent school. And now you don’t have to try to leave a regular school if the child is happy to go there. Conversely, if a child is sad while being homeschooled, then consider why this is happening. Maybe he's not interested.

I see that my child is interested, that we go to every lesson with pleasure. In English, in the center of aesthetic education, in ordinary classes. Every lesson is interesting to her, she burns with it. For me, this is the most important parameter at this stage. And for the next stage, we will also prepare and study what to choose next.

Michael: Now elementary school. It's clear, but what's next? Do you have any approximate thoughts? Maybe this will help someone too. What do you plan to do by the age of high school?

Anastasia: For myself, of course, I would like our daughter to study in some private school, which, on the one hand, will correspond to our principles in pedagogy, approaches to raising children and imparting knowledge. But since we are still choosing where we will finally live for some period of our lives, I cannot say that yes, we are going to this particular school. Maybe we will continue to live in Moscow, maybe we will live somewhere in the south of Russia, or maybe. in any other country at all. But in any case, I look towards private, alternative education. That is, anyway, this is a school, not all eleven classes are home-educated.

There is an option that this school may simply not be formally a state school, that is, it does not have a state license. Maybe it will be some private school that we will go to, but we will take ordinary tests or exams in a classical school. I know a number of such schools in Moscow that exist as circles, but in fact there will be a full cycle of education. That is, all subjects are middle and high school. All subjects are there, all teachers are there, but they teach in their own way. That is, with its completely different approach, which does not always fit in with our classical system. Therefore, they do not even try to fight these windmills and all the time to defend the right to be a school with the issuance of certificates. And the children who study in this system come to a regular school and take exams.

Michael: So the mechanism is the same. You just attach yourself to the school, where you already study in your own way, then you pass the exam. Look, to summarize, we get the first option - the simplest. If you have some alternative school across the street from home, tailored to your needs. There is a house or apartment, I went out across the road, and there is your school, which has a license, issues a certificate, the school can be without grades. It seems that there are no grades for students, but there are grades for tests.

Anastasia: There is such a system, I know that these schools do not just live, but they have already figured out how to deal with it.

Michael: It turns out that there is a ready-made solution in the form, but the problem is that such ready-made solutions are most often found in large cities, and they cost money. That's how much (now the exchange rate of the dollar and the euro is changing, at the moment the dollar is 65 rubles) on average a month of education at a school in Moscow costs? Do you have such information?

The cheapest schools cost 50,000 rubles a month. This is the minimum price for private schools. Then the price goes up. But schools in Moscow cost from 50, on average 70 to 100,000 a month. It turns out for the vast majority of the population - this is unrealistic. It turns out that the second option remains - this is home, online, everything that is outside the school, but you need to attach to them. It turns out in your case, elementary school is a solvable issue, you need only one teacher who leads everything. Somehow this can be resolved. Then more difficult, but also as an option. And the third option, which you also suggested: do not bathe. In the sense that, perhaps, the child will be fine if he goes to a regular school.

Anastasia: Among ordinary schools, there are teachers who put above all love for children, the desire to give them real knowledge, and not just formally comply with the requirements of the system. And there are such schools, there are such teachers, but, unfortunately, there are very few of them. And it’s very often difficult for these teachers, it’s not easy to get to them, but, as an example: one of my girlfriends, who, as they say, didn’t take a steam bath, sent her child to a secondary school that was right across the road, and ended up in some - a class. And I ended up in an absolutely wonderful class, with a wonderful teacher.

She says that they have a non-judgmental system, their teachers instead of highlighting mistakes with a red pen, underline them with a green pen. So it worked out well. It's like a small example.

The school gives, first of all, knowledge in any way, so that all children have an interest in them. This is the most classical school, a friend does not pay some crazy money for private education. But if you search, you can find ordinary schools nearby, do not despair that everything, the circle is closed, private schools cannot afford. In fact, look for those teachers who put love for children above all else. And from here the quality of teaching from this teacher, and less emphasis on the evaluation system, etc. will already go.

Michael: Well, I think we have more or less taken everything apart. Those who are interested will draw some conclusions. I have more questions for you, of course. Let's ask a couple more questions, you have a really interesting experience, and two children. Another question is this: I know that your children are “practicing”. And this is also a very interesting topic. In the sense that children grow up, and whether there are any difficulties in contact with the real world, because after all this food is non-traditional. How do you solve this issue? Are there any interesting features?

Anastasia: Since this type of food, vegetarian, has been with us for more than a year, and we not only started to introduce it now, before school, but we have been vegetarians for several years, and both of my children are conscious vegetarians themselves. This is their decision, I did not force them, they made this decision themselves, so being a vegetarian in some kind of team is not difficult for them. They went to the garden, where they were fed classical cuisine, for them there was nothing so unnatural.

The son does not feel like a black sheep when he refuses meat, when they don’t give him a cutlet, but they give it to everyone. When they don’t pour soup for him, but pour it for everyone, because it’s meat soup. This is absolutely normal for them. When we went to all sorts of classes with my daughter, including those very classes that are long, for the whole day, all the children sit down to eat there, and she takes herself a double side dish instead of, there ... what? The same cutlet. For them, this is not a problem, so I wouldn’t even focus on nutrition at all, if for a child this is a harmonious path, if he doesn’t feel like some kind of outcast and, again, he himself made this decision, then this not a topic for discussion at all. They find something to eat.

Yes, with such a diet, eating two servings of pasta is not very healthy, but at home we start the morning with a smoothie, where the maximum amount of vitamins, etc. Therefore, we have such an issue of nutrition, an additional one, or something, which is not worth discussing in the context of finding a school.

Michael: That is, there are no difficulties? But still, when communicating with peers, how do children behave? They preach this type of food, or maybe they ask you: “Mom, what kind of strange people eat meat?”

Anastasia: The stage of militant vegetarianism for our family has already passed. When, including my daughter, she tried to prove to everyone that one should not eat meat. We got through it. I told her that everyone should come to some decision in their own time. They tell you: don't hit your brother, but you can still hit him at some point. No matter how much they tell you, but until you yourself realize that you don’t have to raise your hand against him, it’s useless to repeat this to you two hundred times. Or there, no need to yell at someone. Therefore, I say: in terms of nutrition, everyone will decide for himself. Of course, it is clear that she is sad that someone eats meat, she sometimes even worries about this somewhere. He says: "Well, why don't they understand?"

But this does not affect her attitude in terms of choosing friends, in terms of who to communicate with. “Aha! He eats meat! So, I will not communicate with him!” She had a stage, she said: “He eats meat, maybe he is not like that?” We talked about it, discussed it, now this problem is absolutely not worth it.

Michael: Wonderful! Well, let's sum up some results. As for education, it’s understandable, we have summed it up, and everyone will decide for himself where to go. The main thing is that there are some options. That's right, if there is absolutely hatred for school, home education - at least some way gives. But to me, coupled with the fact that we talked about nutrition, probably, such a conclusion immediately suggests itself that your family and, in principle, children ... you have such a lifestyle, well, not quite the same as everyone else.

Most people still live differently. But at the same time, there are no problems, difficulties, neither for you, nor for your spouse, nor for children in interaction with this world. Most importantly, this shows that this should not be feared, because it stops many, probably, and fears appear, and public pressure. And here is Nastya in front of you, look how she smiles, how much energy, light and goodness she has, and at the same time she lives according to her values, her attitudes, and everything is wonderful at the same time. Such a conclusion, probably, I asked for it, arose in my head. Well, that's probably all for today.

Artyom 12/23/2015

Hello Michael,
I want to express my opinion about education ...
thanks to the training center "Your Start" I am now
Individual entrepreneur…

I ran into you when I was in my freshman year,
Now I have a 9th grade education, but what
in fact, it happens many times better than everyone else
my high school friends and college classmates.

I'm in the educational business and helping people
started reading 5 books a week and doing a lot of training,
although at school I was not a very good student (to put it mildly) ...

I had to get a diploma, but I did not do it,
decided to do his own thing and did not lose

Thanks for the article, very interesting! My daughter is also home-educated, remotely.
I would like to express my opinion about socialization and the alleged fact that a home child will eventually be unadapted to life. I have always been surprised by this opinion. And does the family in which the child studies live in a vacuum, cut off from society, isolated from life?
I see that outside of school, the child has more opportunities to adapt to life. It all depends on the parents. If the parents themselves protect the child from life as much as possible, then of course he will be unadapted.
And vice versa, even - the child sees how his family lives, what tasks his parents face during the day, how they solve them, including using knowledge, unlike the child who is protected from life by school walls. This is real education. Previously, after all, this is how they were brought up and trained - by personal example. And whole dynasties of high-class masters of their craft were obtained.
In addition, at school, children practically communicate only with their peers, while “family children” have a wider range for communication and socialization, not only closer to real life, but this is real life. Reading, teaching, writing and at the same time babysitting your younger sister, helping your mother in everyday life and at work - why not adapt to REAL life for a girl? The school in this regard is divorced from life, and is closer to office life. Autogenic training, memory development techniques, attention will give them a certain level of these abilities, below which you should not start learning, regardless of age, although it is better to start from kindergarten.
It may be necessary to return to the primary education system, but in a new capacity: to teach to read quickly, to teach to count quickly in the mind, to teach to write clearly and legibly.
Teach shorthand, touch typing, philosophy-thinking
“Let no one, while he is young, postpone the study of philosophy”
(Epicurus)
“Knowledge, only then knowledge, when they are acquired by the efforts of one’s thought, and not just by memory” (L.N. Tolstoy)
Do not give ratings. The student must evaluate himself.
The program must be designed in such a way that if you do not consolidate the knowledge, you cannot move on. For a certain period of time, there must be a certain level of knowledge.
50% of the study time is physical development, education of strong-willed qualities.
Each of the students who graduated from school and achieved certain financial success is obliged to help the school financially, and the school must develop and create its own branches. This thought should be in their mind from the very beginning of their studies.
(These are reflections on the method of education. You can add, subtract, change, main thing, so that it is useful and interesting for those who want to gain knowledge.)
This is Gavrilov, just in case

What to do if you are not satisfied with school education? You are not satisfied with the quality of teaching, the environment, against school "equalization", strive to reveal the individual qualities of your child. There can be many reasons. And there are only a few alternatives to school:

Find a school with an alternative teaching method (author's schools, Montessori schools, park schools, and others).
Switch to a part-time (or part-time) form of education in a traditional comprehensive school.
Go to family education.

Today we will talk about the latter option. Family education is often confused with home schooling and external studies. Homeschooling is organized by the school for children who are unable to attend an educational organization for any reason of a medical nature. Teachers come to the house of the students, respectively, academic performance is the responsibility of the educational institution.

With family education, the child's progress, passing the necessary intermediate and final certifications is the responsibility of the parents.

Externship is an independent, often accelerated form of education, in which the child is not a student of a particular school. With a family form of education, the child is enrolled in a particular school, using all the privileges - free textbooks, the opportunity to use the school library.

Homeschooling in Russia is a young phenomenon. In Soviet times, it was believed that any training outside the walls of the school is not education. Since the 1990s, the situation has changed, but family education has not become widespread. Today, interest in homeschooling is growing.

pros

The main advantage is an individual approach. Family education is like a coat tailored to the figure of a child.

Parents can independently set the schedule, select teaching methods. All the individual characteristics of the child, his biological clock are taken into account.

There is an opportunity to focus on the study of those subjects that are bypassed or do not pay so much attention at school: languages, architecture, art, etc. Such training is aimed at the natural cognitive interest of the child, and not at getting high marks.

Another significant plus is a comfortable society. Pressure from teachers or classmates is excluded, the child is not in a routine, which makes life freer and more natural. By the way, practice shows that the crisis of adolescence is much easier for children who study at home.

Minuses

Parents who choose family education for their children should be prepared for the fact that this will require a lot of their own time and effort.

And the organization of such training will require from them a high degree of organization, a solid understanding of the goals and objectives, pedagogical skills, and education.

The child may manifest (or may not, it all depends on how the family education system is built) the following "side effects": reduced communication skills, the image of a "white crow", lack or partial violation of discipline, selfishness, a sense of being chosen, infantilism .

What parents need to be prepared for

Almost all parents, one way or another, face similar difficulties in this area. Here is some of them:

search for a suitable school for certification;
the problem of choosing an educational program and methods;
difficulties in dialogue with the school administration, which wants to avoid unnecessary problems associated with transferring a child to another form of education;
parents should be ready to work with normative documents (for example, with educational standards), with subject programs, with teaching aids, in order to most effectively implement training;
homeschooling eats up all (or almost all) of a parent's time.

How to transfer to a family form of education

To transfer a child to home schooling, you need to do only 2 things:

1. Write an application for the transition to the family form of education (in 2 copies).

If you wish, you can hear from such phrases as: "There is no such form of education at all", "You are not allowed to have a pedagogical education", "We do not have a charter, go to another school", etc. But as soon as you get a written statement and ask him to accept, the situation is likely to change.

In order to maintain a warm relationship with the school management, say that you fully trust the director, but you need a written refusal for reasoned communication with the RONO and the education committee so that they do not send back to a school where it is impossible to study on a family form.

2. Inform the local self-government body of the municipal district or city district at the place of residence about the transition of the child to the family form of education.

ON THE FORCE OF HABIT

Participants in a survey conducted by the Rambler analytical service commissioned by MIR 24 told what form of secondary education they consider the most appropriate for a child.

The majority of respondents (70%) support the existing school system in Russia. They answered that the most correct form of secondary education is "standard - like everyone else."

20% of respondents voted for the option “alternative education with an individual approach”. 1168 respondents took part in the voting.

In third place in popularity (8%) was the option that suggests that some of the lessons can be studied at school, and some at home. Least of all respondents (2%) considered it right to study at home without going to school.

The new coronavirus - a "relative" of the old SARS - has already led to the death of 26 people. It is believed that several thousand may be infected with it. And it is known for certain that the epidemic has spread beyond China. But this is no reason to panic. We collected all the known information and tried to answer the main questions about the new disease.

1. Everywhere they write about this virus. Is everything really that serious? Was this not the case before?

Definitely, the new coronavirus 2019-nCoV is serious. As of the morning of January 24, 893 cases and 26 deaths are known, that is, the mortality rate for the disease is 2.9%, and this percentage may increase (some of the cases are in critical condition). Given the incubation period, there may be several thousand infected in total, and the number of victims can reach hundreds.

Map of the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus by region in China. Black shows distribution regions on January 11, 2020, lighter shades - on January 20, 21, 22 and 23 (the later, the lighter). Geographically, the spread looks very fast / ©Wikimedia Commons

Something similar has happened before: SARS in 2002-2003 infected eight thousand people and killed 775 of them. It also spread from China and also originated initially due to contact with animals (bats), which were the reservoir for the basic form of the SARS virus. The then virus-causative agent was also a coronavirus and is genetically 70 percent identical to the new one. That is, that SARS and the new epidemic are relatively close “relatives”.

Map of the spread of the epidemic around the planet. However, in recent days, such maps are becoming outdated all the time, so it’s not a fact that this one will remain relevant for a long time / © Wikimedia Commons

At that time, the spread of the disease was contained by quarantine measures. The new coronavirus is reliably transmitted from person to person. If not contained by quarantine measures, 2019-nCoV could theoretically kill many more people.

2. Is the new coronavirus dangerous for the young as well, or only for those who are older?

Be clear: 2019-nCoV is just another virus that can cause pneumonia. Therefore, the chances of dying from it are higher for those who have them higher and with ordinary pneumonia. That is, first of all in those who later went to the doctor with symptoms, and - secondly - in those who are older or suffer from chronic diseases, including the respiratory system.

Take SARS, the related coronavirus epidemic 18 years ago. According to the WHO, the chances of dying from it were on average 9%, but for those under 24, it was less than one percent. At the age of 25-44 years - up to six percent, 44-64 years old - up to 15 percent, from 65 years and older - above 55 percent. This does not mean that young people have nothing to fear, but it certainly means that those who are older should think about it.

With a high probability, this will be the case with new pneumonia, whose causative agent is a “relative” of atypical pneumonia.

3. Is it possible, in principle, that some new virus will arise that will kill many people, and we will not have anything to protect ourselves with?

This story happens systematically. Take the measles virus: geneticists determined that around the 11th-12th centuries it was a common bovine virus. Then he mutated so that he could spread between people: and began to kill by the millions. Back in 1980, it killed 2.6 million, and it still infects 20 million a year. According to WHO, even in 2017, he (though not without the help of anti-vaccinators) killed 110,000 people. As we can see, SARS is just a trifle against this background. She was so seriously covered in the media only because they love everything new and unusual.

Moreover, even the “relatives” of 2019-nCoV constantly infect us: coronaviruses, among other things, cause a runny nose, they often hide behind the abbreviation SARS, and so on. Normally, the virus stably exists only if it does not threaten the carriers with frequent death. Because each such death means that the number of carriers decreases, and with a large-scale epidemic, there will be so few of them that sooner or later the epidemic will end. This means that there will be fewer active viruses.

In the era of the First World War, there were no vaccines or antivirals, so the fight against viruses was reduced to masks, without which even a tram was sometimes not allowed / © Wikimedia Commons

However, sometimes "abnormal" lines appear in the realm of viruses. For example, one of the most rapidly mutating viruses, influenza, in 1918-1919 infected a third of the world's population and killed at least 50 million people (the Spanish flu epidemic). This is several times more than died in the First World War and about the same as died in the Second.

Fortunately, today we have medicine that is rapidly creating vaccines. Weakened forms of the virus are grown in a short time, vaccination will dramatically reduce mortality from any analogue of the "Spanish flu".

There is one scenario where a virus could theoretically kill many people at once, despite vaccines. Take HIV: it infects part of the cells of the immune system, so the immune system does not cope well with it. It is so difficult to create a vaccine against it that only now its first tests are underway - although the virus itself has been known for decades.

If an airborne virus emerges, like the new coronavirus in China, but at the same time affects immune cells, like HIV, then it will not be possible to quickly create a vaccine against it. In this case, a large number of victims is possible and there will be no protection against such a virus for a long time.

The probability of such a development of events is small: the virus specializes in the defeat of one type of cell. The same HIV, in order to attack the cells of the immune system, is looking for among them those that have CD4 receptors. But among the cells in the respiratory tract, there are not very many of them: in non-immune cells, such receptors are rare. So normally, the virus can be either intractable, like HIV, or easily transmitted, like measles.

Perhaps these traits can really be combined artificially - and get a virus that affects both immune cells and ordinary cells of the body, including those in the respiratory tract, in order to make it highly contagious. For example, this may make sense when creating biological weapons. But so far, the technologies available to geneticists are extremely far from the level required for such a combination.

4. How can you reduce the chance of getting a new virus?

Like most coronaviruses - that is, like with a common cold. First, try to exclude contacts with likely carriers. The new coronavirus comes from bat and Chinese venomous snake coronavirus genes. Presumably a Chinese cobra, although the snake hypothesis raises questions. Both those and others are traded in Chinese markets with exotic living creatures that are eaten there.

The epicenter of the new epidemic is Wuhan, and there it went from the local seafood market, where they sell all these cobras and the like. Due to the recombination of the genetic materials of two lines of coronaviruses, 2019-nCoV arose in this market. Therefore, we categorically do not advise you to visit Wuhan and, to be honest, China in general - at least until the epidemic is dealt with there. It is worth recalling that it has already reached Thailand (several cases), South Korea, Japan, the USA, Singapore, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia, so it is also better to postpone trips there until the situation is clear.

The same market in China where the virus spread from. By law, this is a seafood market, but in fact they traded marmots, poisonous snakes, bats and other exotic animals sold for meat. Now the market is closed, disinfection was carried out there, but this did not stop the disease / ©Getty Image

If you are already in China, avoid seafood markets and exotic animals, drink only bottled water and do not consume foods that have not been processed at high temperatures: analogues of sushi and ceviche, as well as uncooked meat.

And always wash your hands after visiting public places and contacting new people. All viruses transmitted by airborne droplets actively settle on the hands, because people touch their mouth and nose with them an average of 300 times a day. In experiments, one person with a viral infection, touching the handle on the door in a large office, leads to the fact that the virus is on all the handles in the office (healthy employees carry it further with their own hands). Therefore, special attention should be paid to hand hygiene. If you can't wash your hands every time, use alcohol wipes.

5. Should I buy masks in advance? And what?

Oddly enough, such coronaviruses do not spread “with one sneeze”. The fact is that all viruses are specialized for the base carrier. Part of the 2019-nCoV genes came from a bat (body temperature varies widely, much more than that of humans), part from a snake, cold-blooded (the temperature is much lower than human). This means that the new coronavirus is not ideally suited for human-to-human transmission.

Nevertheless, masks reduce the likelihood of infection with it - and noticeably. However, there is no point in buying them in advance (so far there is not a single confirmed case of the disease in Russia), as well as bothering with the choice of some particular type of such a mask. Almost all of them today are close in terms of capabilities. If it still comes to an epidemic in our country, it is worth remembering that the mask must be changed at least once every few hours.

6. How long does it take for the virus to show up? How to understand that you are sick?

The incubation period of the virus is about five days. That is, if you have returned from China or other countries where the epidemic already exists, then only after about a week of the absence of symptoms can you begin to relax.

An elevated temperature indicates infection with 2019-nCoV: an increase can be both moderate and severe, but is present in 90% of cases. In 80% of cases, there is a dry cough and rapidly onset fatigue. Shortness of breath and shortness of breath are much less common. Pulse, respiration and pressure in the early stages are normal - there is no point in checking them.

It is worth consulting a doctor if these symptoms are found in anyone who has been to countries where the epidemic has penetrated. The specialist will be able to make a diagnosis based on a picture of your lungs: there the new coronavirus leaves traces typical of pneumonia.

7. And if you still got infected? What to do?

First of all, do not panic and do not get depressed. These are not just soothing words: 17 years ago, studies showed that with negative emotions (or memories of sad situations), a person's level of antibodies in the blood drops dramatically. Roughly speaking, nature does not need losers and those who are depressed. Therefore, to lose heart during an illness is the surest way to reduce the body's ability to resist it.

Meanwhile, your own immunity is especially important if you catch 2019-nCoV. There is no specific treatment for it yet, although it is expected that a number of antiviral drugs for other coronaviruses may help.

Therefore, when infected, you should calmly follow all the recommendations of the attending physicians (and not “treat” yourself at home) and not be nervous again.

8. Is it safe to receive parcels from Aliexpress now? Or is it better to leave it at the post office and walk around without a new phone case?

To date, there is no clear understanding of how long this virus can survive outside living organisms: the very existence of the epidemic was recognized only weeks ago. Only general considerations can be made about whether this virus is capable of being transmitted with objects.

Normally, viruses are divided into "smart" and "strong". Durable have a shell that protects them well from the external environment. "Smart" - a large genome. 2019-nCoV is a rather “smart” virus, with a relatively long RNA (a record long in its class of viruses). Therefore, the shell protects him poorly: he lives in the owner, where it is already warm and cozy. Outdoors, they won't last long.

Russian delivery services - from, not to mention, "Post of Russia" to its commercial counterparts - do not work quickly. Almost certainly, by the time the package arrives, 2019-nCoV will die there. But to calm the conscience, the cover can be wiped with an alcohol wipe.

9. Is it more dangerous than swine and bird flu?

Depending on what is meant by these words. The fact is that the same "Spanish flu", according to some researchers, arose due to the recombination of the genes of the poultry and human influenza virus (H1N1 strain). Such a "hybrid" flu produced the most dangerous known viral epidemic in history, killing at least fifty million people.

However, usually no one knows about it. Following the media, bird and swine flu are called epidemics from China, which have been there periodically since the 1990s. "Avian" is called H5N1. It was less dangerous as it only spread normally from poultry (chickens) to humans, and from human to human rather poorly. However, if they still get sick, then the risk of death could exceed 50 percent, which is a lot. In total, 630 people were infected with it, 375 died.

Swine flu is referred to in the media as an influenza A/H1N1 pandemic. In fact, it is not certain that it was transmitted to humans from pigs - it is more likely that this is the result of the recombination of genes from one flu, typical for pigs, and another, typical for humans. In fact, this is an ordinary flu with a very low mortality rate among those who become ill (one in 3000), and, like with ordinary influenza, mortality is due to complications. Among those who fell ill with A / H1N1, 17 thousand died, which is a lot. But it is worth remembering that 250,000 people die every year from the flu (or rather, its complications) in the world, according to WHO estimates.

Of course, such a “pig” (but in fact it is not - its epidemic has not been recorded among pigs) flu is much more dangerous than the new coronavirus in terms of the total number of deaths. But those who got it in 2009-2010 had a 0.03 percent chance of dying. Among patients with 2019-nCoV, this probability is still nine percent, that is, 300 times higher.

10. Do people recover completely after it or do problems remain?

At the moment, this is unknown: the number of cases is too small. However, normally, after an unstarted viral pneumonia, the vast majority of those who have been ill do not have any problems.

11. How often do such viruses appear? Were they just as dangerous before?

Viruses transmitted from animals to humans appear periodically even in our time. For example, the Middle East respiratory syndrome, caused by another coronavirus, seems to have appeared already in the 21st century. In 2012-2017, two thousand people fell ill from it and more than 700 died.

The Middle East respiratory syndrome virus in 2012-2017 led to the death of hundreds of people, but it itself did not spread among them poorly, infection from sick camels remained the main channel / © Wikimedia Commons

Initially, a person became infected from a sick one-humped camel, which is why most cases occurred on the Arabian Peninsula. However, in the age of globalization, such patients can often travel a long distance, so one person from Saudi Arabia brought the virus to South Korea, where dozens died from it.

The emergence of new viruses of this kind is the norm. Most viruses have a much higher mutation rate than multicellular ones, and they often combine the genetic material of different strains, which leads to their high variability and often the emergence of new strains. Nevertheless, under the conditions of modern medicine, the number of victims from such viruses is quite small - on the order of hundreds per epidemic.

12. So is it worth it or not to panic in the end? Will a vaccine be found soon? Or maybe not find it at all?

You should not panic at all: as we noted above, negative emotions can seriously suppress your immunity, which will reduce its ability to fight. And not only with 2019-nCoV - a rather exotic disease - but also with the closer and more dangerous common flu, with its complications. And not just with the flu. Pneumonia of all types kills more than a quarter of a million people a year, and those with reduced immunity are more likely to be among them.

Already for the Middle East respiratory syndrome virus, relatively effective methods of preventing the disease through immunization have been developed. But, due to the rarity of the disease, no one carried out mass immunization / © Shutterstock

As for the vaccine, in theory it is "almost here". In laboratories, based on 2019-nCoV, coronaviruses of one reproduction cycle have been created. These can enter the body and even once create a copy of themselves there, but then cease to be active. This is, in fact, already a vaccine - thanks to the presence of 2019-nCoV of one reproduction cycle, the immune system learns to develop the desired response.

But there is a caveat: any vaccine requires lengthy tests of its complete safety, and this is not done quickly. And epidemics like SARS or its “relative” 2019-nCoV often end quickly. The same SARS lasted about a year. In such a short time, no one will establish any mass vaccination, therefore, most likely, the fight against the epidemic will be reduced to quarantine and treatment of those who are already sick. By analogy with SARS in 2002-2004.

A vaccine against a coronavirus that affects non-immune cells in the body can be made almost guaranteed. To make it difficult to create a vaccine for a virus, it must be of the HIV type - that is, it must attack not ordinary cells, but cells of the immune system. Roughly speaking, it is difficult for the “police” of an organism to catch a virus-criminal if it is ideally adapted specifically to hunting for “cops”.

Coronaviruses do not do this, therefore, specifically for a new epidemic, you should not be afraid of the impossibility of creating a vaccine.

13. They also say that the Americans could have made this virus, everything happened exactly on the Chinese New Year. Is there any truth in this?

Such rumors arise regularly: back in the days of SARS, two Russian researchers suggested that it was an American virus. However, after studying the RNA of the virus, such “hypotheses” dissolve like smoke.

RNA clearly shows that both SARS and the new 2019 coronavirus are close “relatives” of bat coronaviruses and poisonous snakes that live specifically in China. Moreover, they are sold in exotic food markets in Wuhan. It is precisely because 2019-nCoV arose from such a mixture of genes that it does not spread very well (according to the available data) among people.

If this virus were created artificially, then for such a result, its developers should have been fired for incompetence. A virus that doesn't spread well between people is a bad weapon.

If the "creators" made it easily transferred from person to person, they should have been fired all the more. SARS in 2002-2003 caused dozens of deaths in Canada. A highly contagious virus would easily reach the United States and cause an epidemic there as well. In the age of mass air travel, creating a virus for China means preparing an epidemic at home.

Theoretically, you can try to create a virus that will not infect people without special genes, and try to find such genes only in the Chinese. In practice, at the current technological level, this is about as realistic as the colonization of the Tau Ceti system is.

The available means of genome manipulation are too crude and imprecise to realize such an ambitious task. In addition, infections with the new coronavirus have already been registered in other countries, which excludes the version of the "anti-Chinese" biological weapons.

Portal for the student. Self-training

Home education as an alternative to a comprehensive school. Homeschooling is an alternative to school

Text interview:

pros

Minuses

What parents need to be prepared for

How to transfer to a family form of education

Popular Parent Questions

ON THE FORCE OF HABIT

1. Everywhere they write about this virus. Is everything really that serious? Was this not the case before?

2. Is the new coronavirus dangerous for the young as well, or only for those who are older?

3. Is it possible, in principle, that some new virus will arise that will kill many people, and we will not have anything to protect ourselves with?

4. How can you reduce the chance of getting a new virus?

5. Should I buy masks in advance? And what?

6. How long does it take for the virus to show up? How to understand that you are sick?

7. And if you still got infected? What to do?

8. Is it safe to receive parcels from Aliexpress now? Or is it better to leave it at the post office and walk around without a new phone case?

9. Is it more dangerous than swine and bird flu?

10. Do people recover completely after it or do problems remain?

11. How often do such viruses appear? Were they just as dangerous before?

12. So is it worth it or not to panic in the end? Will a vaccine be found soon? Or maybe not find it at all?

13. They also say that the Americans could have made this virus, everything happened exactly on the Chinese New Year. Is there any truth in this?

Portal for the student. Self-training

Text interview:

pros

Minuses

What parents need to be prepared for

How to transfer to a family form of education

Popular Parent Questions

ON THE FORCE OF HABIT

1. Everywhere they write about this virus. Is everything really that serious? Was this not the case before?

2. Is the new coronavirus dangerous for the young as well, or only for those who are older?

3. Is it possible, in principle, that some new virus will arise that will kill many people, and we will not have anything to protect ourselves with?

4. How can you reduce the chance of getting a new virus?

5. Should I buy masks in advance? And what?

6. How long does it take for the virus to show up? How to understand that you are sick?

7. And if you still got infected? What to do?

8. Is it safe to receive parcels from Aliexpress now? Or is it better to leave it at the post office and walk around without a new phone case?

9. Is it more dangerous than swine and bird flu?

10. Do people recover completely after it or do problems remain?

11. How often do such viruses appear? Were they just as dangerous before?

12. So is it worth it or not to panic in the end? Will a vaccine be found soon? Or maybe not find it at all?

13. They also say that the Americans could have made this virus, everything happened exactly on the Chinese New Year. Is there any truth in this?

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