Homeschooling – The Pros And Cons Of Educating Children At Home

It is estimated that over 3% of children in the USA are now schooled at home, and this number is rising all of the time.

And if you’re wondering who homeschools, then these are the typical characteristics of the parents:

• Median family income of over $75,000 per year
• Still married (or living together)
• More formal education than average
• Predominantly white / non-hispanic
• Three or more children

This article looks at the advantages and disadvantages of homeschooling so that you can decide whether it’s the right approach for your family.

Why Homeschool?

Here are some of the reasons parents give when asked why they homeschool their children:

1. Their religious beliefs lead them to not wanting their children to be exposed to certain topics (e.g. evolution).
2. They believe schools dos not offer a beneficial learning environment.
3. They will be able to offer their children a better education.
4. They will be able to teach their children specific beliefs, principles, and values, which may not be taught adequately, or even at all, at school.
5. To help their children develop their character.
6. Medical reasons, because many schools require proof of vaccination and a growing number of parents are beginning to question the safety of the current CDC childhood vaccination schedule (often because they already have at least one child who is vaccine-damaged).

Benefits Of Homeschooling

These are the major benefits of schooling your children at home:

1. Better Performance. Statistics show that homeschooled children’s test scores are significantly higher than those of children who learn at school.
2. Cost. For those schools that still require a uniform, you can cut this expense out of your budget immediately. And while you probably will need to spend some money on materials (e.g. textbooks), the average cost per child is from $400 – $600 – but you won’t be constantly badgered to contribute to school fund-raising activities.
3. Custom Curriculum. Depending on where you live, there may be some subjects that you must, by law, teach your children. Other than that, you are free to choose whatever curriculum you deem most appropriate for your children, although you are still probably going to need to cover the basics, such as English and/or whatever your native / local language is, and mathematics.
4. Flexibility. While schools have a very rigid schedule of lessons and other activities, homeschoolers can work out a schedule that fits their needs. This can vary from day to day, and parents who homeschool are more likely to include learning opportunities throughout the day, even if they’re currently not actually teaching a specific lesson – like when they go to the store (which can be at any time of day, rather than when they’re at their busiest).
5. Healthier. Children (and, potentially, anybody who works there) can bring any sort of illness or infection to school, whereas at home, this is less of a concern.
6. Improved Diet. You no longer need to spend time and energy putting together packed lunches, because at home, you can feed your children whatever you want, including items that would simply not be practical to send them to school with.
7. Less Commute Time. When you school your children at home, you don’t have to waste time driving to and from school multiple times a day, often in traffic.
8. Location Independence. When your children go to school, most of the learning takes place within the confines of the classroom, with an occasional field trip being an option. At home, on the other hand, learning can take place anywhere – inside your house, in the garden, on a trip to the supermarket or doctor’s or bank, at the local park, family trips out at the weekend, as well as vacations.
9. More Involvement. Your children won’t need to return from school every day and be subjected to the usual barrage of questions about what happened, etc. – because they will be with at least one of their parents while they are learning anyway. And from the parents’ perspective, they will be more involved in their children’s education because they will be the teachers.
10. No Bullying. Children at school can often be bullied, whereas this is less of an issue at home.
11. No Parent Teacher Meetings. You don’t need to go to the school specially just to find out how your children are doing, because you already know that.
12. Personalized Tuition. Children are able to learn at their own pace, which is rarely an option in the rigid schedule of a school.
13. Safety. For the most part, if your children are at home with you, there is less chance of them being killed in what appears to be an ever-increasing number of school shootings.
14. Small Class Size. In regular schools, there may be dozens of students in a class, which means the teacher can offer limited assistance to each individual. At home, however, where you may only be teaching your own children, you can spend much more time – as much as is needed, in fact – with each of them.
15. Teachers Won’t Pick On Your Children. At school, you get no say in who teaches your children, or how they treat them. At home, however, when you are the teacher, you do not have this problem.
16. Time. When you homeschool your children, you get to be with them so much more, which means you can be there for them whenever it’s necessary. You won’t need to try to set aside separate “quality time” because the entire day can be time to bond with your kids and see them develop.

What About The Perceived Disadvantages?

So, homeschooling sounds like there are plenty of valuable benefits, but there have to be a few downsides too, right?

Well, yes, and here are some of the more significant ones – some real and some perceived:

1. Availability. By this, I mean that at least one parent needs to be able to stay at home with your children to do the teaching.
2. Cost. While the actual costs of providing the necessary materials for educating your children at home are relatively low, the cost is significant if one of you has to give up their job to do it. Having said that, if most of your income is going toward day-care costs, for example, then the loss of the second income may not be as great as you first thought.
3. Criticism. Because homeschooling is still relatively rare in most communities, you are likely to have your decision questioned – by family, friends, neighbours, etc. All this means though is that you need to be crystal clear on why you chose to homeschool your children, and be confident in your decision.
4. Feeling Overwhelmed. Deciding to homeschool can be a daunting proposition, and even if you have thought everything through as much as you can, it’s normal to feel anxious when you first start. However, this is no different to starting anything new – and the more you do it, the better and less nervous you’ll become.
5. Isolation. When your children go to the local school, it is relatively easy to meet other parents and compare notes, but since homeschooling is still fairly uncommon, this may be more difficult. Of course, you can easily find homeschooling groups on social media, although I accept this is not exactly the same as discussing issues face to face with other parents.
6. Laws. Homeschooling is actually illegal in some countries – over two dozen in fact, including Germany and the Netherlands, as well as large parts of eastern Europe.
7. Socialization. Some people are concerned that homeschooled children will not have the opportunity to socialize, but studies have shown that this is not actually the case.
8. Time. You are probably used to thinking that you will need to put in the same number of hours as your child spends in school, but this is not actually the case. At school, not all of the time they spend there is spent in the classroom – there is break / play time, maybe time for sports, lunch time, and perhaps assembly. When you add up the time you really need to devote to active teaching, it’s nowhere near as much as you think.

Conclusion

While homeschooling is not a practical option for everybody, I think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

However, this is clearly not a decision to be taken lightly – it will affect your entire family in one way or another – so you really need to talk things through with all of the people within your family who will be affected

But if you do decide to go down that route, then there are more and more resources available to help you make a success of it – and kudos to you for taking full responsibility for your children’s education.

Additional Resources

These are suggestions for those who wish to delve deeper into any of the above:

1. Homeschooling Books
2. Homeschooling Laws (US only)