Fòram na Gàidhlig

I hope this is the place to ask this: I know homeschooling isn't as common in Scotland as it is in the U.S., but I was wondering if there is an actual term in Gaidhlig for homeschool/homeschooling/homeschooler. The best I've been able to come up with is telling people what I do is that I'm a teacher at home, which sounds like I'm a tutor. That's technically correct...I just tutor my own child!

Tapadh leibh!

Madainn mhath Lìosa - Perhaps "Foghlam sa dhachaigh" might be appropriate. Others here might have a better phrase.
There is a phrase in use "Gàidhlig sa Dhachaigh " for teaching of Gaelic in the home both by parents and visiting support. Chuc in Alaska has been teaching his younger child Gaelic for a few years now. Should you be considering teaching some Gaelic to your child at some point he would have useful advice in a US context I imagine. He's on this forum sometimes as Tearlach61.

Foghlam sa dhachaigh

*san dachaigh

I'd just call it sgoil-taighe if you're desperate for a noun, in context a' toirt seachad sgoil aig an taigh would probably do it. But foghlam san dachaigh works equally well, so it's your choice I guess.

Probably the best thing to do would be to paraphrase - even the English word "homeschooling" is not well-known in the UK.

Chan eil a' chlann agam a' dol dhan sgoil. Tha mi gan teagasg mi-fhìn aig an taigh.
[My children don't go to school. I teach them myself at home.]

There are a few terms for "schooling" people, not just children.

If anyone has read the book "Oideas na Cloinne" (which is available on archive.org) you will see one of them in the title "Oideas". THe book itself is all about giving the children a good "homeschooling" with traditional rhymes, songs and games etc.

But also, in one of the introductory paragraphs, the author NIcholson uses a verb which is perhaps better suited to your purposes:

oilean - i.e. Oilean na cloinne

At that time, there was probably no need to mention "aig an taigh" as perhaps the context would have given that, but anyway, old-fashioned or not, the words are there, and i seriously doubt that such words would be considered old-fashioned were Gaelic in a much healthier state with thousands of native speakers graduating in degrees taught through their native tongue, which any healthy language needs.

"Oideas"[1] is pretty widely used for tutoring at the moment. A tutor is "oide" (faclair.com) or "neach-oide" (in the Ùlpan literature). I've heard a similar word used for tutorials at the SMO.

[1] Dwelly gives this as an alternative spelling of oideachd: instruction, counsel, tuition.

Neither oideas nor oilean (which is not commonly used anymore) carry the connotations of schooling that we have today, of pencil, paper and blackboards so I don't think they'd be good choices.

Neither oideas nor oilean (which is not commonly used anymore) carry the connotations of schooling that we have today, of pencil, paper and blackboards so I don't think they'd be good choices.

Although I like "toirt seachad sgoil aig an taigh" and although the words "ionnsachadh/oideachadh aig an taigh" are safer and easier to accept, I am merely opening up realms of possibility and development of expression, because I strongly believe in helping to develop Gaelic by coining "new" terms from less common words rather than always opting for the "safe" option, and stunting Gaelic's growth in the meantime.

The fact is there is no "commonly" used term for "homeschooling". "Teagasg" and "ionnsachadh" are no longer seen to have connations only connected with pen, paper and blackboard, advances in technology mean that you could just as well associate them with "computer, screen and mousepad", or "digital" and "projector screen"!

"oilean" is very common in formal situations and is equivalent to "learning", or "ionnsachadh" in Gaelic. This as we all know can be employed to mean "teach" as well as "learn" when combined with "do".

Do you always prefer to go for the "safe" option?

An Gobaire wrote:

Neither oideas nor oilean (which is not commonly used anymore) carry the connotations of schooling that we have today, of pencil, paper and blackboards so I don't think they'd be good choices.

Although "teagasg/oideachadh aig an taigh" or "ionnsachadh" is safer and easier to accept, I am merely opening up realms of possibility and development of expression, because I strongly believe in helping to develop Gaelic by coining "new" terms from less common words rather than always opting for the "safe" option, and stunting Gaelic's growth in the meantime.

The fact is there is no "commonly" used term for "homeschooling" in Gaelic, but there is undoubtedly a phrase for "home tutoring" which is British English for exactly the same thing. "Teagasg" and "ionnsachadh" are no longer seen to have connotations only connected with pen, paper and blackboard, advances in technology mean that you could just as well associate them with "computer, screen and mousepad", or "digital" and "projector screen"!

"oilean" is very common in formal situations and is equivalent to "learning", or "ionnsachadh" in Gaelic. This as we all know can be employed to mean "teach" as well as "learn" when combined with "do".

Do you always prefer to go for the "safe" option?

Lìosa was trying to find a way of explaining what she does, so using an obscure Gaelic word is not a good way forward, hence my reluctance to go with oilean.

And I have strong suspicions oilean is in use at all - I googled "oilean" "ris" (to filter out Irish results) and the first hits are the 1821 Bible and various other really old books. I'm not saying it's totally dead but if alive, it's so fancy it's not good for explaining your job.

No, I don't always believe in "safe" but I am a bit of a pragmatist

"oileanachadh" is learning, instruction or maybe even training; all dependent on context.

i.e "Fhuair iad deagh oileanachadh san ealain seo bho na h-Innseanaich - They received good instruction in this art from the Indians Perfectly acceptable in a formal "home tutoring" context, just as it is in a higher education context.

I've only seen "sgoil" used in set phrases such as "bha sgoil mhòr / mhath aige" - he was well educated

Other examples:

mì-oileanach (adj) - someone who is "rough, untutored"

is buaine dùthchas na oilean (proverb)

Most good Gaelic texts are not on the internet remember!

Chan eil a' chlann agam a' dol dhan sgoil. - Wouldn't Chan eil mo chlann a' dol dhan sgoil. be better?

Why?

To be strictly correct, it would be "mo chuid cloinne". (all of my children)

"A' chlann agam" is fine too.

Uill, cha robh mi eòlach air "homeschooling" idir. Seòrsa foghlam aig an taigh, nach e? Dè tha iad ag ràsh sa Bheurla air a shon? "Home tuition", smaoin. Ach chan eil mi (no màthair mo mhac) air uaine fhaighinn airson sin a dhèanamh a-riamh.

akerbeltz wrote:Neither oideas nor oilean (which is not commonly used anymore) carry the connotations of schooling that we have today, of pencil, paper and blackboards so I don't think they'd be good choices.

The irony, of course, is that "schooling" was historically the less-well-off's substitute for tuition....