The adage goes that the mother is a child’s first teacher and the home is the first school. Not all relevance of this is lost in today’s day and age too. Homeschooling today includes parents, home tutors, online courses and zealous dads. After all, each can contribute to a child’s rounded education in more ways than ever.
This blog explains why homeschooling can be a good idea for your child.
What is Homeschooling?
Homeschooling, also known as home education is the education of children at home or at any other place apart from a traditional school. It is usually anchored by the parents or tutors or online teachers/courses.
Is Homeschooling a New Fad?
Well, homeschooling is as old as the hills! Only the advent of formal education structures made it seem less competitive and less plausible. It like any other philosophy or pedagogy has both critics and proponents.
About 4% of the students in the United States today are homeschoolers. Back in 2016, there were approximately 1.7 million students in the United States alone who were homeschoolers. This number is expected to rise to 2.3 million by 2020, according to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI).
Before we discuss why homeschooling is a good idea too, let us address two most instinctive questions:
1. Is homeschooling even legal?
Yes, homeschooling is legal in all parts of the United States. Each state has a different legal structure and is free to create so. You can check out the exact details of the state-specific laws here.
2. Will my children lose out on the academic credibility and scores if I homeschool them?
To say the least, statistics show that homeschoolers score at or above the national average on the standardized tests. Also, homeschooled students have been accepted into many Ivy League universities.
If this allays your fears about homeschooling, we promise to give you even better reasons to opt for it.
Here are the top 7 reasons why you may consider homeschooling as the modus operandi for your child:
1. Freedom
Hiring a home tutor or teaching themselves undoubtedly gives the parents complete freedom. Before you underestimate the length and breadth of this freedom, let us look at the things you get to decide:
- Content of the curriculum (the books to be included, the topics to be covered, etc.)
- Pace of studying
- Daily lesson plan
- Daily study hours
- The range of hobbies that could be included or left out
- People who would (and who would NOT) contribute to teaching – the choice of hiring tutors for specific subjects is entirely yours when homeschooling
- Choice of the value system that you want to instill in your child
An adult is often the product of choices their parents made in their formative years. The most critical decision of all is the one around education which, is never a one size fits all solution.
Homeschooling/ hiring a home tutor gives you complete freedom to choose what YOU think is best for your child. There is also lots of help available with the choices.
There are curricula designed specifically for homeschooling. For example, if you want to hone your child’s intellectual and artistic skills alike, you may choose the Waldorf curriculum. If you want to simply follow a national board’s curriculum and books, you are also allowed to do that. You can choose how your child spends the most important hours of the day when you homeschool them.
2. Flexibility
Don’t want your child to miss out on life’s little moments that don’t align with school timetables? Homeschooling is your way out to keep your child de-stressed about learning.
This can be best visualized with the help of a few anecdotal examples:
- If your child catches the flu, they needn’t sit with a sore throat for the sake of compulsory attendance. They can recover and resume at their own pace.
- There are no more close family weddings or precious interactions with the grandparents to be missed out. The school goes everywhere with the child, in the form of you. The school becomes beyond a time-bound class.
- There are no monotonous timetables. Children often get worked up with preset routines. With homeschooling, you can dynamically choose to work someday on a hobby with your child instead of teaching math. Children love these surprises and learn better this way!
3. Better Control
In the early years of childhood, most of the cognitive development takes place by observation. Therefore, it’s not the notes or lectures that help the most.
While homeschooling, you can control what commands how much time in your child’s day. Therefore, you can make way for more observational learning than rote learning. It’s your complete control over your child’s quality of learning.
4. Effective use of Financial Resources
You no longer need to pay a hefty fee that private schools command. Homeschooling allows you to invest that money more prudently into your child’s active learning.
For example, buying two new storybooks could be a better investment than having to buy a new school uniform that has been mandated. Or an educational trip to an island could help a child learn much more about the world than an encyclopedia. Affording that trip becomes easier when you save up on funds that would go into traditional schooling.
5. Better Connection with the Child
With traditional schooling, there is a limit to the parents’ participation. Whereas when you homeschool your child you can be an active part of their learning curve. Participating in their learning journey can do much better than just monitoring it.
The more time you get to spend with your child, the stronger your bond becomes with them. It allows you to look closely at your child’s emotional needs, which helps you foster a better connection with them.
6. A safer and More Conducive Learning Environment
There are a lot of ways in which homeschooling can provide a safer learning environment.
For example:
- Teaching from the comfort of your home can do a lot to a child’s sense of security. This is especially true in the first five years.
- You can protect your child from bullying and other behavioral hazards.
- You can as well control what your child eats during the day. At schools, the food is not tailor-made to suit your child’s specific nutritional needs for development.
7. Identify Your Child’s True Calling
Getting entrapped in the vicious circle of attendance, notes and report cards are easy with traditional schooling.
Homeschooling, on the other hand, allows you to watch closely your child’s predilections. Because, when you spend time working on art, music, and mathematics with your child, you’re more likely to notice that one distinctive calling of theirs.
In traditional schooling, real interests can be lost in the swamp of homework, period bells, and too many tests. In homeschooling, you can make the much-needed space for hobbies and interests which later may become your child’s path to excellence.
Giving homeschooling a thought? Talentnook has a vast repository of homeschooling tutors in your vicinity. Explore homeschooling tutors here