Homeschooling has been a growing alternative of education for young individuals. For the past few decades, homeschooling had been on the rise and there’s a good reason to believe it will keep increasing in the near future. This article will explore the overall picture of how homeschoolers are faring, if they’re feeling behind or if they’re keeping up or ahead of the other student group.
Definition of Homeschooling
Homeschooling is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “the education of children at home, typically by parents or tutors, rather than in a school or college. ” It is a great alternative overall because of the fact that parents become more involved in their child’s education and have some form of control of the environment.
It can also be great for students who need a more tailored education, as they have the opportunity to prioritize certain skills and topics, while skipping the ones they find unimportant or uninteresting.
Advantages of Homeschooling
One of the major advantages of homeschooling is that parents get to decide which content gets to be prioritized for their children. This ignites a sense of accountability for the parents and a belief in their autonomy over the learning process. This can be a great aid towards a faster learning process, as students get to practice the topics that get priority, even if that means having to skip the other topics or study them superficially.
Another major advantage of homeschooling is that it allows for more flexible schedules and times. If a student decides to take a break from learning, they can do so without any external intervention.
This allows students to have a more natural schedule of learning and teaching while having flexibility in their schedules. Lastly, homeschooling allows more time for social activities and parental involvement, which can be a great boost for the child’s psychosocial development.
Disadvantages of Homeschooling
Naturally, homeschooling also comes with quite a few disadvantages. One of the biggest disadvantages of homeschooling is the lack of social interaction and engagement with other around them.
Without the extra time spent in a school environment, students can have a harder time developing social skills and interaction. In addition, most homeschoolers tend to lack a lot of the extracurricular activities and classes that students who attend school tend to have. Another disadvantage of homeschooling is that the amount of information and content can be quite overwhelming for some parents, as they are responsible for selecting the material to use when teaching their child.
Lastly, homeschooling tends to be quite expensive as most parents usually choose to outsource material and resources to use, instead of creating them themselves.
Research on Homeschooling
Recent research on homeschooling indicates that the practice has been more successful than previously believed. The Herron and Hedges’ study conducted in 2019, compared academic performances of homeschoolers to that of traditional students across three different countries. The results of the study concluded that, on average, homeschoolers outperformed traditional students in reading, math, and science.
Additionally, a 2020 study by the Vanderbilt University in the US has indicated that homeschooled children tend to score significantly higher in verbal skills, written content, and socialization compared to traditional students. Going further into the idea of the success of homeschoolers, it should also be noted that research and studies have also indicated that homeschoolers tend to have higher high school graduation rates and college attendance rates.
Additionally, the same research has concluded that homeschoolers have higher test scores in college as well and are more likely to go on to obtain a college degree.
Are Homeschoolers Behind?
Taking the research and studies into account, the answer to this question is an emphatic no. On the contrary, research and studies have indicated that homeschoolers are actually faring better than their traditional counterparts.
They are scoring higher on verbal tests and their attitude towards academics is far more positive. Additionally, homeschoolers also tend to have higher rates of high school graduation and college attendance as well, which is a good indicator of their success. However, it should be noted that homeschoolers are not necessarily better than traditional students.
The data collected from the recent studies and research has indicated that both groups are performing in their respective fields generally, but homeschoolers don’t yet have the same level of resources and access when it comes to extracurricular activities and other learning opportunities. They may still be behind compared to their peers in some areas, but their numbers are slowly increasing.
Conclusion
Overall, homeschoolers seem to be doing relatively well when it comes to academic performance and socialization. Research and studies have indicated that they are performing better than their traditional peers in most areas and they have higher rates of college graduation and college attendance.
However, more resources and access to extracurricular activities is still needed for homeschoolers to truly compete with their traditional counterparts. Nevertheless, homeschooling seems to be a viable and successful alternative of education.