With hot debate between public schools and homeschooling, it is essential to understand what is the good side of homeschooling. Homeschooling is growing day by day and is now mostly preferred due to the vast number of benefits that it provides its students.
It may seem like daunting task to some but its success rate is too high and it ensures each child gets an education that is tailored to their individual needs, interests and talents. To truly understand the good side of homeschool, we need to look at its various aspects.
Access to Diverse Educational Material
Homeschooling offers parents the ability to customize their children’s education and choose the materials that best fit their children’s learning styles, abilities, and interests. It also allows them to draw from a wider range of educational materials, from a variety of publishers, textbooks, and resources. This gives children of all ages the opportunity to learn in ways many would not have access to at public schools.
In addition to textbooks, this includes hands-on activities, the internet, mobile devices, children’s museums, libraries, etc. This promotes well-rounded education that children actually enjoy and understand.
Flexible schedules & Better Learning Experiences
Another benefit to homeschooling is greater flexibility in the types of learning experiences that can be provided. Parents can choose when and how long to focus on a particular subject as well as how many subjects to concentrate on and when take the break. This makes it easier for children to go at their own pace and accommodate any learning disabilities, physical disabilities or interests they may have.
Parents can also opt to incorporate hands-on learning, field trips and experiments onto their curriculum.
Motivation & Parental Guidance
Homeschooling also involves more parental guidance as parents are actively involved in teaching and guiding their children. This helps in motivating children as parents can identify and address issues early on and provide additional support or resources when needed.
Parents also have the ability to spend more time with their children, enabling them to build trust and have a better understanding of their children’s needs and interests. The stress-free and comfortable environment created by this parental involvement allows children to indulge in learning and focus better.
Individual Attention & Customization
Homeschooling enables parents to give their children dedicated individual attention they need to progress. Parents can easily observe their child’s progress, teaching methods and areas where extra help is needed.
As homeschooling allows parents to individualize their child’s curriculum and adjust it according to their capabilities, it further boosts their learning potential as parents can grasp their children’s level of understanding and deliver the lesson accordingly.
Less Social Pressure
Being able to learn away from all the social pressures is one of the major pros of homeschooling. Homeschooling provides a more relaxed environment with no peer pressure and elitism, especially if the child is more introverted and has difficulty with social interactions.
It helps them avoid bullying and allows them to focus more on their education. Since homeschooled children don’t go through the daily social interactions, they can channel more of their energy and focus on their studies.
Creative Thinking & Custom Educational Environment
Homeschooling is more of an activity than a lesson so parents can customize the educational environment and provide options that best suit their child’s needs. This encourages creative initiative and critical thinking as children can explore the topics beyond textbooks.
With more freedom, the environment becomes more interactive, promoting learning and self-expression.
Reduced Expenses
Though the initial time and cost for setting up homeschooling can be quite high, further down the line, the costs of homeschooling are far lower than traditional schooling. This is due to the absence of high tuition fees, expensive textbooks, transport and other school related expenses.
Homeschool parents don’t have to worry about buying many of the things for their children as there are tutorials, free resources, and other cost-effective materials which can be used instead.
More Quality Time With Family
As more of the family’s time is spent together while homeschooling, children get to spend more quality time with their parents, siblings and loved ones generally. This encourages better communication among the family members and allows children to be able to express themselves without any social pressure.
With more time spent together, parents get an opportunity to nurture and bond with their children.
Educational Freedom
Homeschooling offers the freedom to explore a variety of topics in-depth. Parents are able to create lesson plans and activities based on their children’s strengths and interests, something which is not possible in a traditional school setting.
Parents have the full freedom to adjust the subject according to the lesson objectives, help their children make choices, and encourage them to pursue their natural passion and creativity. This ultimately gives children more control over their education and a greater sense of accomplishment.
Better Results in Post-Secondary Education
According to a study conducted by Stanford University, Homeschoolers have been shown to do better in post-secondary education than their traditional-schooled counterparts, scoring higher on college entrance exams and in college performance averages. This is likely due to the well-rounded and customized nature of a homeschooling program, which better prepares them for the rigours of university and the job market.
Conclusion
Homeschooling offers a great alternative to the traditional educational system and provides a wide range of benefits to parents and children alike. Since it allows unparalleled flexibility and customization of a child’s education, it provides a learning experience that is tailored to every child’s individualized needs and interests.
It builds a strong foundation for the future educational and career aspirations of children, which gives them an edge over their traditional-schooled peers. Even with its added responsibilities, the pros that homeschooling provides is worth considering.