Are you considering to home school your child?
You might consider some pros and cons that may help you think more clearly about your child's future.
PROS: –
The advantage of homeschooling kids is that they are free to learn whatever they want depending upon the curriculum their parents have designed for them. They are in a learning phase the whole day but in an interesting way. If we say this way that the parents would be able to teach them theoretically, as well as by giving them examples, or making that practice in their daily routines, and adopt that learning turning it into an exciting way of learning.
The family can make trips to different educational places whenever they want, not worrying about the time as well as they can go to vacations without an interruption of the school schedule. Older kids can be given different tasks during their vacations like budgeting for the family and choose the hotels and meals. They can also be given the task of road mapping and geography skills by telling them about the places they pass by.
Children who are very sensitive are protected in the home environment from bullies and can be protected from negative influences and are surrounded by loving family giving the child the right influence and positive environment. It can be effective to eliminate the stress of their kid if he is ridiculed and bullied. The kid should be taken out of the school for a certain period of time. If it is a serious case and the situation is getting worst day by day, then the parents are left with no choice and have to decide to get their kid out of the toxic environment and home school them for sometime.
It is most beneficial for a child who easily gets distracted and the children who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The parents' homeschooling these children would know their needs and could handle them more effectively as compared to the school. The parents can manage the time and eliminate the distractions that interfere with the child's concentration. Parents can give them tasks to be done in fixed time and then give them small breaks depending upon the child's response. The thing is that the child gets full attention by their parents and parents get to know their children better and have a better understanding of their behavior.
Children with learning disabilities can be homeschooled so that they do not feel left behind their class fellows and so that their self-confidence and self-esteem is not damaged. Let's take an example of a child suffering from dyslexia that affects his learning and decoding of words. He is uncomfortable going to school due to this condition. So, he can be homeschooled and his schedule can be designed in a unique way that suits his learning style and by discovering his strengths help him grow as a competitive individual.
CONS : –
The first problem that has to be considered is no matter how the parents design the schedule and try to give their kids the best education, they can not meet the standards that a professional institute can give their child and the way the professional teachers convey the lecture. The child gets to interact not only with the fellow students, but he also interacts with the different teachers and the surroundings. In the break hours, he is able to play with different children provided a large playground for their outdoor activities.
The child follows a schedule and learners to get to the school at school timings on daily basis. He knows that he has to wake up early in the morning and then has no choice but to sleep early in the night, completing his homework on time. Indirectly he is learning time management by managing school timings, his homework, and time spent at home with his siblings and extracurricular activities. He is spending hours in the school so he gets to see different people and interactions with different surroundings, so he is not seeing his parents and siblings the whole day and get bored.
The kid learns to live with other children with different backgrounds, learn to share their things their ideas, and their perspectives. Unlike homeschooling where parents teach their children what's right according to their beliefs and what they want their child to know. Here the child has no option but to follow their parents' beliefs.
The kid has different opportunities to participate in different activities he is interested in like sports, writing, debate competition, speeches, arts, and many other creative activities. He has a motivation to compete with others and a competition to win. While in homeschooling the kid has no one to compete with him leading him to lack of motivation.
In my opinion, homeschooling is a good option for those kids who are physically or mentally challenged and they have difficulty coping up with other class fellows and feel left behind others. Otherwise I think the kids facing bullies should not be homeschooled for a long time on this basis, rather this situation should be handled in a different way by talking to the school management or changing the school, not by isolating them from the society because in future they have to face the society and it is better if they learn now how to cope up with such situations. Secondly, If children are homeschooled on this perception that the parents are protecting them from the negative environment, then they should think that for how long can they protect them from the evils of society? Someday their kids are going to have to encounter people and face the outer world.
Think about it! Take a while and make the right decision for your child.