Despite some widespread myths about home-schooling, home-schooled children tend to do well on standardized tests, adjust well to life away from and tend to be successful self-starters in the professional world. Still, any decision regarding your child’s education takes careful thought. There are important pros and cons to consider when deciding if home-schooling is the best option for your family, and most importantly, for your child. Here is a list of the advantages and disadvantages we found to be the most compelling home-schooling points to consider.
Potential disadvantages
- Home-schooled children don’t have the same level of human interaction as children who attend a traditional school. Studies show that this tends not to affect the vast majority of home-schooled children. However, parents need make a special effort to encourage independence and sociability in their children through activities emphasizing interaction.
- Spending all day, every day with each other can become exhausting for parents and kids.
- Group activities may be hard to come by outside of the public or private school systems. This is especially true in smaller towns throughout the country. Then again, Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow was home-schooled.
- One parent has to give up a career. However, if one parent is already working from home or a stay-at-home parent, then this option has real potential.
Potential advantages
- Parents have more control over the content of their child’s education, and the method by which this information is taught. The material will be much more focused, which means no busywork for your child. Overall, the process becomes more efficient, allowing time for other activities.
- Studies show that home-schooled children have a higher sense of self-esteem (as illustrated in A Sense of Self: Listening to Home-schooled Adolescent Girls, by Susannah Sheffer.) Additionally, they aren’t restricted or daunted by the stresses of bullying, cliques or appearance expectations of traditional schools.
- Parents can progress at a rate that will cater to the child’s learning speed. The high level of personal attention will allow your children to understand topics in which they might struggle in a classroom environment.
- Home-schooling also allows for scheduling freedom. Vacations, field trips, sports practice, religious holidays, and educational lessons aren’t necessarily as structured and can allow for family and student activities to become more flexible and diversified.
There are countless additional pros and cons to home-schooling.
Do you home-school your kids? What pros and cons have you found?
For another perspective, check this out: Is Homeschooling Right for Your Family?
