For many parents, the daily routine of convincing their children to wake up, get ready and leave the comfort of their homes to go to school, is a dreaded task. The majority of parents would happily choose to do away with this daily battle if they could.
For most parents, their child’s education is their first priority, and more and more families are starting to question which schooling model and learning environment is best suited to their unique child.
The home is a child’s first school and parents are their first teachers. Many homeschooling parents believe that their home is the best place for educating a child due to the familiarity and controllable environment.
Many great thinkers of the world have promoted the concept and benefits of homeschooling as they believe that a traditional classroom environment displaces the child from his or her natural surroundings and confines the child in order to educate them. For these reasons and more, homeschooling has become a popular modern alternative to traditional schools.
The difference between homeschooling and online schooling
Homeschooling places responsibility on parents to educate their children. When homeschooling, parents have the option to select a curriculum and purchase lessons from an external provider, but the primary duty of teaching lies with them or a tutor they may employ.
Parents will typically be responsible for grading their child's assignments, tests, and exams using a provided memorandum if they follow a specific curriculum. As there is no involvement of a traditional school in this process, report cards are typically not issued.
In contrast, online schooling transfers the teaching responsibility to a designated teacher who conducts lessons virtually and evaluates tests and assignments while providing detailed feedback. The school, in this case, can also issue report cards, which parents can use for easy enrollment into another school for the following year or for university admission purposes.
Benefits of choosing homeschooling
This goal of education can be achieved through homeschooling as children are encouraged to think critically and truly understand the concepts and theories contained in their courses. Homeschooling is also legal in many countries, allowing for this level of education to be available to most children. While the level of education is definitely one of the main reasons that many parents choose to homeschool their children, there are also several other reasons why parents opt to provide their children with a more personalised approach to their educational journey.
Many parents who are ignorant of the benefits of homeschooling may believe that this method of schooling may deprive their child of receiving an internationally accredited education or that their child may lack in areas of socialisation, when in fact, this is very far from the truth.
In today’s world, homeschooling is considered as an alternative; however, it was once the primary means of education in all households. World-famous personalities like Abraham Lincoln, Virginia Woolf, Rabindranath Tagore and Mozart were all homeschooled. So, never think your child will lose out on anything if they are schooled at home.
Some of the benefits of homeschooling include:
1. One-on-one teaching
This is the biggest benefit of homeschooling: your child gets complete, undivided attention throughout the phase of teaching. One-on-one teaching allows the child to receive individual attention which is not possible in traditional classrooms, where the child often has to share the classroom with many other students, all of whom have diverse needs.
Therefore, children can ask questions without interruption, receive more comprehensive explanations, and feel confident in expressing their concerns and struggles. This also allows for the teaching method to be tailored to the student’s unique learning style, so that they may understand concepts more easily.
2. Flexibility
Sending your child to a traditional school means rushing about every morning to get them ready and drop them off at school on time. In contrast, homeschooling gives parents and children the freedom to create their own schedule and keep it flexible too. If you are busy in the morning, you can arrange to teach your child in the evening. Your schedule is entirely up to you to decide.
If you choose online homeschooling, the benefits are that your child’s homeschooling structure is supported by teachers who can be accessed immediately. It also means that you can finally take that family holiday without the guilt of racking up days absent or missing out on key topics. Therefore, your child will never fall behind or miss out on their education as they would in a traditional school.
3. Eliminates unnecessary competition among peers
While attending a traditional school allows a child to develop peer groups and teaches them to socialise, it can also give birth to unnecessary negative competition. The race for grades can develop a negative attitude toward learning and the immense pressure to perform can affect students’ mental health and social values. Children can also experience intense cases of bullying and might develop trauma based on this, which could affect their confidence throughout their lives.
Homeschooling eliminates this kind of intense negative pressure and lets children focus on their subjects rather than their grades. In this way, they can develop an in-depth knowledge of their subjects as well as an appreciation for them.
Children can also develop healthy friendships and bonds with peers, by engaging in extracurricular activities which will supplement the social interaction they would have experienced in a traditional school.
4. Control over the matter
Christopher Oosthuizen, CambriLearn Student & Mensa member says, “I like to be taught how to think, and not what to think.” Homeschooling gives you the freedom and flexibility to teach your child the way you want to teach. Thus, there remains no scope for dissatisfaction about the way in which your child is being taught by someone else. This also means that you have greater control over which topics and content your child is being exposed to.
This increased control allows you to focus on specific methods of teaching or the subjects your child is weak in. Online homeschooling lessons allow you to pick and choose what you wish to teach your child, thereby incorporating them into a larger teaching scheme. You can also fix the duration of their study to give core attention to areas in which they are weak.
In short, the lessons you provide your child are tailor-made according to your vision and your knowledge of their personality.
5. Saves time
Homeschooling is a noticeably more efficient way of schooling. There is far less time wasted on mundane routines, like assemblies and drive time etc. This means that you can better invest that time in actual learning and teaching for your child, where they can be helped by pre-planned, self-guided lessons that allow them to learn independently. In the long run, your daily routine can be far better optimised with this kind of learning.
This will also give your child more time to develop other skills and interests that can benefit them in the long run and help them become well-balanced adults.
6. Parent-child bonding
The parent-child bond can be strengthened through homeschooling. Since the child’s primary teachers are their parents, they get to spend quality family time with the people who care most about them.
Even in online homeschooling, parents will spend time helping their children with the online tutoring they receive, and this creates personal bonds that are positively nurtured through education.
Education that fosters a personal touch and an emotional bond is the most humane way and creates well-rounded individuals. It saves students from becoming too mechanical and competition-oriented, unlike those who are put under immense pressure to perform and who thus detach themselves from everything around them in order to secure “first in class”.
The extra free time provided by online schooling also offers more opportunities for parents to bond with their children through play and socialisation. In this way, these children will build a stronger connection with their parents, leading to a more open and trusting relationship.
7. Safe learning environment
Parents who are in any doubt about the safety of their children in schools could consider the alternative option of homeschooling. Students generally feel safe and comfortable in their homes with online homeschooling lessons. It keeps them away from issues like bullying and negative company which may adversely affect or influence them.
Even though these issues do not occur in every school, online homeschooling still remains a better option for parents who worry about the safety of their children.
For those parents who worry that homeschooling will not provide enough challenges and adversity through which to grow, we say there are more than enough challenges that life will throw at your child, even while at home.
If you make an effort to create a vibrant social life for your child through extra curricular activities, volunteering, playdates, and more they will naturally encounter challenging situations that will encourage them to develop certain skills.
8. Less pressure on parents
It may sound somewhat surprising, but homeschooling can actually lessen some of the pressure on parents. On the one hand, it is true that homeschooling requires parents to be at home with the child and focus on their education, which can be quite time-consuming. But on the other hand, it lessens the unnecessary pressure put on parents to assist with deadline-driven projects, tests, homework, assignments, and compulsory extra-mural activities such as career day.
Daily homework submissions and weekly project deadlines invariably create pressure on parents who need to help their children with this work under time constraints. In the case of homeschooling, you can assist your children in creative project work at your own convenience and make the learning process creative and fun, instead of pressurised.
Working parents also have the convenience of opting for self-help online homeschooling lessons which further reduces the pressure on them.
9. Focus on child’s talents
Traditional schools tend to make students only focus on their studies, academic ranking, and perhaps a limited assortment of extracurricular pursuits. This subdues the talents a child may have within them and there may be no opportunity for that talent to be discovered or developed.
Homeschooling gives students and parents the opportunity to focus on the inherent talents of the child and nurture them as well. For instance, a child who is musically oriented can be given music classes at an hour convenient to them, as homeschooling offers a flexible schedule that is not as time-consuming.
This will widen the child’s education and make it a more progressive experience. Therefore, if a child spends time finding their passion, they will also be more inclined to know what career path they would like to pursue after school.
10. Increases personal interaction of introverted children
Another great benefit of online homeschooling is that it offers the chance for introverted children to interact directly with their teachers. Traditional schooling methods often ignore the needs and questions of introverted children who may be too shy to speak up in class for fear of being ridiculed by others.
In online homeschooling, the child is exposed to face-to-face teaching where they may not feel as shy or intimidated to speak up. This can increase their confidence to talk about their areas of doubt and thus gain a better understanding of the subject being studied.
11. Addresses the diverse needs of children
Another very important aspect of homeschooling is that it addresses the specific needs of the child. A school consists of students from different backgrounds, with different educational needs. Sometimes, children find it difficult to keep up in a large group environment because of their unique learning styles or needs. Homeschooling lets parents select the methods of teaching most beneficial for their children.
Both traditional schooling and homeschooling have their advantages and disadvantages. The important thing to consider is which education model is best suited to the child’s unique needs. Every child is different and absorbs information differently, at a different pace. Homeschooling provides parents with the opportunity to personalise their child’s education to their unique needs. This helps instil a child’s love for learning – throughout their schooling career.
If homeschooling is done correctly there are academic, safety, flexibility, and exposure advantages over traditional schooling. Whilst some parents may have their concerns about the lack of socialisation and peer-to-peer engagement when homeschooling, many homeschooling families tend to enrol their children in sporting centres which largely eliminates that concern and allows children to consistently mingle with new friends and not the same cohort.
When all of the above factors are taken into consideration, and as homeschooling gains significant popularity, it would not be surprising if homeschooling becomes the future of schooling.
Is homeschooling the right fit for your child?
We've created a quiz that helps parents discover their child's ideal learning environment. Take this free quiz to find out if online homeschooling is right for your child.
