While the current circumstances have made it a necessity to homeschool children, research establishes that it is a preferable choice even without any external pressures. There is no denying that it is not easy to make this choice for parents. There is a lot of extra responsibility and the requirements to ensure that the child does not lose out on the socialization and team work learning while they are studying at home can become overwhelming. The prevalent culture of leaving education to professionals only adds to doubts of parents despite the numerous benefits that homeschooling brings with it. However, when the pros of homeschooling are weighed against the cons, it emerges as a clearly better course of action for both, the children and the parents.
#1 Homeschooling is Good for Individual Learning Styles
Every child has different interests, different modes of learning, different pace at which they absorb and understand knowledge and most importantly different ways of expressing themselves. Traditional schooling system is designed to treat every child in a single classroom the exact same way. With homeschooling, children can learn at their own pace and as per their physical and mental comfort, instead of following the same robotic routine day after day. This means much better educational results as well as personal growth.
#2 Homeschooling is Great for the Child’s Confidence
When all students in a class are taught and then tested on the same parameters, it is only certain that children with different speeds of learning or methods of studying will fall behind. In such circumstances, even exceptionally talented students sometimes fall into mindset that they are incompetent. On the contrary, when a child is homeschooled, he is free to explore, create, learn, and express at his own will. Homeschooling does not only help the children learn better but also do it more confidently.
#3 Individual Curricula Are Possible
In a traditional classroom, every child is supposed to study the same subjects and read the same books. In homeschooling, parents can gauge the child’s interests and abilities, as well as what they feel is most beneficial for their child to learn in the long run and design a tailored curriculum. Parents can choose the subjects and books, account for their child’s interests, and thereby ensure a quality learning experience.
#4 Individual Attention is Possible
Every child learns at a different pace and through different modes of learning. Some prefer to make notes, some retain better with visuals and graphs, while some prefer reading the same material over and over again. Children can comfortably study and learn in their own ways during homeschooling and parents can still provide them with the attention that is crucial during early education. It goes without saying that such individual attention is becoming rarer by the day in traditional schools due to overcrowding and lower teacher to student ratios.
#5 There’s Room For Hands-on Activities
Even traditional schooling agrees on the fact that studies and books alone are not enough for the proper development of a child’s mind and physique. However, given the pressure of grades and competitive environments within classrooms, these extra-curricular activities can often become a burden for young children. As opposed to that, while homeschooling, children may indulge in sports, build puzzles and models as part of play instead of another school duty, and hence benefit from them far more.
#6 Homeschooling Allows for More Quality Family Time
One of the biggest arguments in favor of homeschooling is the proximity and direct contact of parents and children throughout education. Families get to spend a lot of time together, which not only allows parents to instill the same values in their children as themselves but also keeps the family bond strong.
#7 Protection from bullying
Bullying is not the only risk to modern day school-going children. The environment outside is becoming increasingly dangerous, with open access to the internet, lesser security in terms of physical access to children, as well as the possibility of children being exposed to violence, hatred and other such menaces. Homeschooling is the most comfortable cushion against all these risks for children.
#8 Better social skills
When children are homeschooled, parents can not only keep an eye on their friends and study groups but may also be able to choose their study companions. This means that homeschooling provides an extra layer of security against the children being exposed to negative influences.
#9 Better health
As with other benefits of staying home, including safety and deeper learning, homeschooling also means better nutrition of the child, better sleep schedules, less work pressures and therefore overall much better general health. There is also no burden of rainy days or snow days and the education of the child can go smoothly irrespective of outside factors.
#10 Flexible schedules
While there are innumerable benefits for the children in homeschooling, parents also benefit from the possibility of flexible schedules. For instance, if both parents work, even then there is enough time and room for them to pay complete attention to their children while studying and be present for their learning and education.
Conclusion
No doubt that homeschooling has many benefits. We’ve listed many but there are certainly more. Our list should help you make a decision if homeschooling is right for you and your child. It is certainly not an easy choice but begin by educating yourself on the pros and cons and what you will be required of you to get started.