A PREGNANT mum-of-two has come under fire after making “concerning” comments about homeschooling her children.
Spiritual influencer Mami Onami is proudly “free schooling” her kids by letting them set their own curriculum and decide when (or even if) they want to learn.
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The 28-year-old doesn’t want her youngsters to “conform” to the traditional 40 hour working week.
“I’m not raising cogs in the economic wheel,” Onami said. “I’m raising leaders of the future.
“The curriculum is different.”
Her kids, a six-year-old boy named Rainer and three-year-old girl named Wylie, will never sit an exam or complete coursework.
In fact, they’ll never step foot inside a classroom.
In a recent TikTok video, which has since gone viral, Onami shockingly declared that she “doesn’t teach her children anything”.
“Everything that they learn is in response to either their interests or their questions,” she explained.
“We have no curriculum, we have no school hours.
“We really just respond whenever they want to know something and do our best to make sure they really get it.”
In the video, she then flips open to a page of her six-year-old son Rainer’s notebook, where he has practised his spelling of the words “egg”, “lamp”, “jar” and “lion”.
“This is him doing it by himself,” Onami, from California, US, added.
“If you do not like this idea of sending your kids away for 40 hours a week and then wondering why they have no energy to do anything else…
“If you are not into your kids conforming, trust that you can follow their interests.
“And they will learn everything they need to learn, not what other people need them to learn.”
Homeschooling Rules in the UK
In the UK, homeschooling is a legal and viable option for parents…
- English and Welsh parents do not need permission to educate their child at home, but they must notify the school in writing if they are withdrawing their child from a school to home educate
- Scottish parents must obtain consent from their local council before withdrawing their child from school, unless the child has never attended a public school
- Parents must ensure their child receives an efficient full-time education suitable to their age, ability, and any special educational needs
- There is no requirement to follow the National Curriculum, take standard exams, or adhere to school hours
However, parents still need to ensure their little ones are being adequalty educated. Otherwise, your local council can step in.
- Your local council can make informal inquiries to ensure your child is receiving adequate education
- They may even request information about the home education provision to ensure the learning material is suitable
- If the council believes your child is falling short, it can serve a School Attendance Order or issue a notice for attendance
Trolls were quick to bash the untraditional mum and accuse her of “crippling her children”.
“You’re crippling your children,” one slammed.
“It’s fine if you want to keep them ignorant and at home forever.
“Personally, I want better for my kids.”
I’m not raising cogs in the economic wheel. I’m raising leaders of the future
Mami Onami
“My parents ruined my life doing this – RUINED it,” another critic weighed in.
“I have never been able to catch up, I will never be able to live the life I wanted to.”
Others suggested that Rainer’s literary skills were “way behind the average” child his age.
Onami has since hit back at critics and admitted the blunt comments did “hurt her feelings at first”.
“To have a bunch of people on the internet say that my son is stupid, that I’m a negligent parent and people should call child protection services on me — that really hurt my feelings at first,” she told Rolling Stone.
“But I’m not going to listen to a comments section about how to raise my kids.
“That would be like trusting the comments section on where to invest your money.”