Are you considering to home school your child? Home Schooling has become a more popular and acceptable method of educating the young. Parents choose to home school their children for various reasons such as wanting complete control of their child’s education, bullying, special needs or medical needs, or religious beliefs. It is important that parents weigh the pros and cons before making this important decision regarding homeschooling.
Here is a list of the most common pros and cons of home schooling:
Pros of Homeschooling
- Freedom of choice
If you decide to home school your child, you can decide exactly how you want to educate your child. You can decide on which subjects to focus on, the pace of learning, the method of learning and the degree of learning. Since you know your child best, you can make every single decision for him/her sole interest. - Hire your own educators
Many home schooled children are educated by either their parents or private tutors. As a parent of a home schooled child, you have the discretion to hire the private tutors whom you think are suitable for your child specific learning needs. You do not have the same discretion to decide who your child’s teacher is if he goes to a main stream school. Private tutors only cater to your child’s needs and can teach according to his/her learning pace. - Flexibility of time
Home schooling gives you the flexibility to plan your child’s study schedule according to what you think make sense for him or her. You save time and money not having to travel to and from school. There is no specific time table that your child has to follow and you can schedule his time according to what you think make sense.
Cons of Homeschooling
- Social Development
This is probably one of the major concerns that come to a parent’s mind. A home school child would have less chance to mix with children of the same age and that might not give them a chance to develop social skills. However, you can always tackle this problem by getting your child to join teamed lessons such as soccer or dancing. Joining these lessons will give your child the opportunity to make friends and socialize with kids of their age group outside of school.
- Stress on Parents – Extra Responsibility
On top of having to perform the typical duties of a parent, adding education as an extra responsibility can put more stress on you. Homeschooling your child also means giving up time for yourself and because your child will be home more often, it may also mean that you would face more clutter in the house. You would also need to prepare extra meals and snacks. One method of reducing the toll on you is to hire several private tutors whom you think fits the bill to take the load of you.
- High Cost
Either parent will have to be at home in order to home school your child. This means that one of you will have to give up a job and an income. In addition, the cost of purchasing books and school supplies and of hiring private tutors can be quite high. Sending your child to an affordable neighborhood school is a way more pocket-friendly option.