Homeschooling is growing in popularity in many countries worldwide, crossing a number of borders such as religious beliefs, political inclinations, household income, and even parent’s educational attainment. A research reported that homeschooled kids performed better than their peers in standardized tests such as ACT and SAT. They were involved in many volunteer activities, clubs, field trips, and music and sports activities. Homeschooled adults tend to be more active in community service compared with the general population. Here are more of the advantages of homeschooling including its downsides.
Advantages
1. Homeschooling offers much flexibility in terms of planning the kids’ education. With homeschooling, parents can customize the curriculum based on the kids’ learning styles of unique interests although some states implement stricter regulations. Some kids who have difficulty in following classroom rules or those that learn more with one-on-one instruction can perform better with homeschooling.
2. Aside from flexible educational plan, parents can also manage the kids’ time so they don’t need to miss important family gatherings or vacation. Flexible time is also helpful should the children get sick.
3. Compared with a regular classroom with 20 pupils, homeschooled children have the privilege to learn their lessons at an appropriate pace. Plus, they don’t need to share the teacher’s attention with other children.
4. Aside from lesser school fees, homeschooling can curb other expenses such as gas, uniform, and other school fees and supplies.
5. Parents have more time with their children, so they end up learning real life lessons.
Disadvantages
1. Too much flexibility in schedule may result in lack of structure, which may be unfavorable to some families.
2. If both parents are working, then there is no one at home to do homeschooling, and totally defeats its purpose.
3. Most parents do not have formal teachers’ training, leaving a cloud of doubt on whether they are able to handle a tough material.
4. Are homeschooled kids ready for college? Are they not missing some of the requisites for the most demanding careers?
5. Homeschooling more than one child may be a tough task for the parents, let alone if they are in different grade levels. One gets exposed to more advanced lessons early on while the other gets bored going through the more basic concepts over and over again.
6. Homeschooling requires consistency on the part of the parents, which is actually difficult.