Several Drawbacks And Benefits Of Home Schooling
Nowadays it seems that the big debate on education isn't about the best university for your kid or even the long-standing feud between public and private schools. No, the overriding argument in academic circles right now involves the questions “where” and “why”. Where would you rather your kid study, and why there? More straight to the point, do the benefits of home schooling outweigh those of studying in an academic institution?
There are lots of reasons for and against home education, regardless of the parents' style of home schooling and the home schooling materials they can offer their child. Fact is, home schooling isn't perfect (no approach to a good education is), and while it has it's good points, it also has its flaws.
Listed below are some of the best reasons for and against home education. While it's best to be as objective as possible in making your decision, it's just as important to keep an open mind. If you feel that you can make the most of the benefits of home schooling, while putting up with its shortcomings, then by all means, take the plunge. On the other hand, should you feel the demands of home education are just too much to live with, then maybe a quality school would be best for you and your child.
That said, let's start with the cons of home schooling.
Expense. Yes, home schooling can cost you even more than a good school would. Even if you do have a stand up style of home schooling, quality home schooling materials are still a necessary expense. After all, you wouldn't want to teach your kid some stuff you picked up from the back of a cereal box, would you?
Time. To be truly effective, home schooling requires an all-out commitment on your part. You can't slack off when you need to come up with a good curriculum, and you have to put in enough hours each day to make sure your kid knows what he needs to know.
There are no excuses when your child's future is at stake. So demanding is home schooling that you may just have to make a career out of it, even if your only compensation is the assurance that you're pushing your kid toward a brighter future.
Enough with the cons. Let's move on to the pros.
Flexibility. If you ever worry about what school may or may not include in its curriculum, then you would definitely enjoy this particular benefit of home schooling. Home schooling your child allows you the freedom to draft and revise your child's curriculum as you see fit, guaranteeing your kid will learn all you want him to learn and will avoid anything you feel only serves to clutter his mind.
Influence. One of the bigger pros out there is the rare opportunity for parents to influence their children through home schooling. Far too many kids are vulnerable to peer pressure and contemporary society's distorted system of values. Home schooling allows you to shield your tyke from these negative influences and develop in him the integrity and moral values he will carry with him for the rest of his life.
Quality. No joke: findings show that home-schooled kids generally outperform their school-based counterparts in every single subject. This can be credited to two major factors: 1) the learning environment, and 2) the attention paid the student. Not only does your kid get to learn more in an environment free of a typical school's distractions, he will benefit greatly from his teacher's (your) undivided attention.
Drawbacks and benefits of home schooling aside, the quality of children's education always rests with the parents. Only you can decide which road will lead your kid to success, so choose with care.