Homeschooling is gaining its momentum these days. With the number of families opting for homeschooling growing year on year, we find it essential to help you make up your mind about this type of studying.
To give you a better idea of the main reasons why parents choose to homeschool their kids, we will share this statistical data gathered and analyzed by Bright Hub Education.
According to these guys, almost 80% of those choosing homeschooling over public education did so because they believed that they “could their kids better education at home.” Meanwhile, slightly fewer families did so because of their religious beliefs. Around 73% wanted to teach their kids particular values and beliefs.
As you can see reasons why people like homeschooling better than public education might vary. And if you are sitting on the fence regarding your own decision in this regard, read on. We’ve got tons of useful information for you to consider when making this choice.
Five advantages of homeschooling
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- Educational freedom.
Unlike public schools where teachers have to take into account how well the major part of students deal with the topic, homeschoolers can study at their own pace. At school, if the significant part of the class has already mastered the material, the teacher will move on to the next topic leaving some of the students behind for the sake of the majority.
However, this is not the case for those studying at home. Parents can take as long as they need to make sure their kid has mastered the material and move on whenever he is ready. Moreover, there is no need to repeat the same information over and over again! Modern students are so busy and overloaded with school workload that essay writing services are seeing a huge increase in orders. But with home-based education, this will not be the case!
- Stronger relationships with children.
Since you get to spend much of the family time on teaching, you get to strengthen the bond with your kid. All the time he would otherwise spend in the classroom he can now spend with the family. And that means quality time to get to know each other, share values and increase trust within the family.
- Different socialization pattern.
Sure homeschoolers do not spend time at schools among their peers. However, they still can benefit from it. Studying at home prevents them from being bullied. Besides, they are not exposed to any psychological impact that can lower their self-esteem. And also, studying at home helps them build stronger real-life skills.
- Values and beliefs.
If there is anything that you object to in school program, homeschooling should be your choice. With it, you get to teach your values and beliefs to your kid as you go over the program he is to remember.
Besides, as he spends time with his loving family, he absorbs love and caring that are not often seen anywhere around the schoolyard. Thus, you bring up a wholesome personality with strong moral values and beliefs that you once shared with him.
- Self-motivation.
Homeschoolers often have to be quite self-motivated to keep on learning even though they get no awards or achievements recognition other kids from public schools get. However, it is a good thing: they are not dependant on someone else’s approval of they achieve to keep on moving toward their goal. And this will definitely pay off in the future. These are but a few of homeschooling benefits. There’s more!
But right now we’ll move to the disadvantages of homeschooling because that’s only fair!
Five Disadvantages of homeschooling
- Loss of income.
Having to teach and train your kids at home means loss of income or at least reduced hours spent on work. Of course, you can always take advantage of vacation and holidays, but homeschooling will require so much of your time and effort those won’t help too much.
One-income families can still do well, but you have to be ready that homeschooling will limit your family’s spending capacity.
- Fewer sports options.
Home-based education also translates into limitations on sports activities. Thus, a lot of public schools (if not all of them) only allow their own students to participate in school sports activities. And even though homeschoolers can form their own leagues or join recreational or amateur leagues, it might not be exactly the same.
It is not such a big deal: your kids will still have time to exercise and play sports, only in a different way than they would if they studied at a public school.
- Less time with peers.
Studying at home (unless your kid has a lot of siblings) is different from studying at the school where they get to spend hours learning and having fun with their peers. Some homeschoolers reported that they had only a few friends when they studied at home.
That might be such a bad thing, but it is worth mentioning, especially if your kid is an extrovert constantly requiring peers’ attention.
- More stress for parents.
Despite all the available resources and programs for parents, planning and administering homeschoolers cannot be as simple as it sounds. It will take time and lots of thoughts.
Therefore, parents willing to educate their children at home should be prepared that they will have less time for themselves at home as well as more stress due to tremendous parent and teacher responsibilities.
- Less structure.
Sure, you are still a human being, not a robot. And teaching a whole lot of subjects all by yourself can be taxing. As a result, parents often sacrifice structure in order to give their kids more freedom and flexibility.
Homeschooling, some say, is time well-invested. Your kids grow with correct values and beliefs. Yet, this requires so much of your time and effort that some do not dare to opt for this type of education. It is completely up to you. We can only make sure that you understand both sides of the coin when making this important decision.
So, what would you opt for after all? Will you still go for homeschooling or do you find the level public education decent enough for your child to go there? Leave us your answers in the comments area!
Author Bio: Jake Lester is an experienced content writer that is fond of sharing his mind about various spheres of life. The most recurring themes he covers are education, writing and marketing. He has his own writing style and this is why he is appreciated by readers. You may look through Facebook, Twitter & Google+.