Should I home-school my children? Reasons why home-schooling is a good idea

Should I home-school my child? Why should I home-school my child / children? Would home-schooling be the best schooling option for my child?

With everything going on in the world today and all the dangers both adults and children face, home-schooling is seemingly a great way to help parents have one less thing to worry about: all the negativity and dangers many children are exposed to in school today.

What is home-schooling?

Home schooling can be defined as the act of a parent or family member educating their children / child at home or in a homely environment. Parents single-handedly (or with the aid of tutors) take on the full responsibility of teaching their children everything a normal schooling system would;  including all the subjects they would be educated in while attending an ordinary school. There are numerous forms of home-schooling and home-schooling may differ according to the curriculum base the parent decides on.

Why do parents choose home-schooling for their children?

We’ve all read the horror stories of children who are abused, fall victim to peer pressure resulting in irresponsible behaviour or bullying which children face while at school and it seems like there’s constantly something new that parents need to think of ways to protect their children from.

Home-schooling may not be the solution to all the problems in the world but it is a way for parents to allow their children the gift of a great education from the comfort of their home.

Many parents feel that due to all the negativity and dangers ‘ordinary schooling systems’ might pose it would be best to teach their children from home ultimately protecting them from the dangers and better aiding and preparing them for the world they will encounter after schooling.

Home schooling is also a solution to learning or other disabilities, a busy lifestyle where the child or family concerned might travel a lot (making it hard to stay in one school) or in cases where the child might be actively involved in sport, dancing, acting, modelling or presenting making it hard for him / her to attend ordinary classes. It allows a child to focus on other areas of life while ensuring that education is not neglected.

Advantages / benefits of home-schooling your child

As has been mentioned above there are various advantages to home-schooling. I will briefly list some of them below:

• Children are protected from negative influence or dangers until they are old enough to protect themselves.
• Children or families with busy lifestyles or who travel a lot could benefit from the fact that education will not be neglected.
•  Home-schooling, due to the fact that the child will not be in a class full of children, allows the child the full undivided attention of the one teaching him / her.
• A Home-scholar, due to the fact that a lot of the work is not group or team based, is taught to work independently without constantly relying on others. 
•  Home-schooling, with regards to older students who might not need constant supervising, results in a student developing adequate time management and self-motivation skills.
• Children are made able to study and be educated at a pace well suited to them. All children aren’t the same and home-schooling allows a child to move forward as fast or as slow as he / she would like. Your child is able to work at a standard pace (one grade in 1 year), a slower pace (one grade over 18 months or 2 years) or an accelerated pace (one grade in 6 months or two grades in 1 year). It is a completely flexible system depending on the curriculum you and your child will be working from.

It is clear that home-schooling has numerous advantages and these all positively point to the fact that home-schooling might be the way forward with regards to education.

Many might argue that a home-schooled child might become introvert or lack socialisation skills but this is all proven wrong when looking at statistics that home-schooled students are far from introvert or lacking in socialisation skills. By allowing your children to take part in sports, hobbies, etc, they are still interacting with children their age and there is no place for a lack of socialisation at all. What’s more is the fact that children could be home schooled until a certain age and then sent to an ordinary school or university afterwards. Home-schooling does not need to be carried out through the whole schooling career but can be used as an introductory phase to allow your children to know what is right or wrong, instill morals in them or prepare them before sending them to an ordinary school at a later stage (maybe high school, college, or university).

Bearing in mind all the advantages that home-schooling has to offer, considering home-schooling as a way of education for your child would be a very good idea. With all the pro’s and benefits it is no wonder more and more parents are opting for home-schooling their children to date.

I am a successful former home-scholar. I went to university at the age of 16 and became a part-time tutor at the University tutoring first and second year students were were older than I was during third year (due to my excellent grades).
Please feel free to contact me via the 'contact me' page if you have any questions.

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Posted by Jade