Homeschooling Pros & Cons
What are the pros & cons of homeschooling? I get asked this a lot. So, I thought I’d write them down. You’ll notice that my Pro list is much longer than my Con list! 🙂
PROS
- The biggest, most wonderful thing about homeschooling (in my opinion), is how it brings families closer together. When kids are home and everyone is learning together….having fun together…it tends to bring families closer together. How could it not?
- The next most wonderful thing about homeschooling – our family has gained the homeschooling understanding that learning occurs everywhere and at all times (This really is a homeschooling viewpoint that others just don’t understand). Homeschoolers recognize learning opportunities in the most mundane experiences (grocery shopping for instance), and they actively search out learning opportunities 24/7. In other words, homeschoolers embrace learning – all the time. I see this as a life skill and I think it’s an amazing life skill to have.
- I think most homeschoolers have a better education than their public school counterparts. Why? Because of the following:
- As a homeschooling parent, I can teach to my kids’ learning styles. Public school teachers, with 20+ pupils in their classroom can’t do this. It would be impossible. Because I can teach to their learning styles, again, they enjoy the learning experience and embrace it. My kids aren’t bored.
- I can also teach to their interests. If I have a child particularly interested in birds and how they fly, I can teach directly to that interest – looking up resources for bird/flight unit studies. Again, this helps my kids embrace learning, and LOVE learning, because they’re gaining knowledge about subjects they’re interested in. If my child that’s interested in birds/flight isn’t interested in fractions, I can add some bird fraction worksheets, and all of a sudden, fractions become more interesting.
Even MORE PROS!
- For the following reasons, I think my kids are better socialized than public school kids.
- I can teach my kids 2-4 hours a day, and they learn much more than they do in the public school system for six plus hours a day. Believe it or not – there isn’t that much learning that occurs per day in the public schools! I know first hand – as I used to work in the public schools.
- Because my kids are in school fewer hours, they have more time to pursue their interests, take outside fun classes, play with one another, be involved in sports, interact with members of their community, etc. I think this makes them more well-rounded, more interesting and more socialized than their public school counterparts.
- As a parent, you have a say in what your child is learning and to incorporate your beliefs into your kids’ education. This of course, includes faith-based beliefs, which can’t be taught in the public school system. In our homeschooling, we emphasize STEM and nature. My kids are proficient programmers and we also spend a lot of time outside.
- Homeschool curriculum is exceptional, and there is so much to choose from. Homeschool curriculum tends to teach to all learning styles and includes physical books, online classes, and more, in every subject you can imagine, including faith-based curriculum. Because so much of it is online, it’s up-to-date – more so than in the public school system (it’s easier for a publisher to update online info than physical info). Because of our STEM emphasis and because two of my kids are kinesthetic learners, we use a lot of hands-on and interactive materials – more than our public school uses.
Still MORE PROS!
- Your kids don’t have the negative influences of public school such as peer pressure and bullying. Wow-that’s huge. Think of it – that’s a lot of the socialization that occurs in public schools. No thank you.
- Well rested kids. I’ve read a lot of articles about kids and sleep lately. My little ones tend to wake up earlier so we start homeschool earlier for them. I let me teens sleep until 9:00 am. They’re more rested, and ready to start their day. I’m not forcing kids up early in the morning when it’s still dark outside, so they can catch the bus.
- No Busywork. My gosh, public schools hand out a lot of busywork! As in ridiculous worksheets where the kids aren’t learning anything. I don’t do that.
- No homework. Yes, I give assignments, but I don’t give HOURS of homework as our local public school does. I don’t need to. My kids are learning a lot and they’re learning in a short amount of time. Their after homeschool time is not spent doing homework, it’s spent playing baseball, reading for fun (yes, my kids do that!), volunteering, working, etc.
- DUAL CREDIT! My high schoolers are getting a jump on college while taking their high school classes. Dual credit is amazing – just google it.
- Flexibility – homeschooling allows a lot of flexibility – homeschoolers have control over their schedules. We homeschool four days a week – which we really like. I know other homeschoolers that travel while they homeschool, have taken time off to deal with family emergencies, etc. Flexibility is nice.
Cons
- OK – I admit it – as much as I LOVE homeschooling my kids, there are days where I wish I could just take a break. But you know what – I can! That’s part of the flexibility of homeschooling. If you’re starting to feel burned out (or your kids are) – you can change things up or you can take a break.
- Financial Restraints. In many homeschool families, there is only one income. At our house, I work part time, so we’re a 1 1/2 income family. We’re making it work and we’re doing OK. The financial negatives are minor compared to all of the benefits.
You can definitely see that the pros way outweigh the cons. Heck, the first con isn’t even a con!
If you are looking for information on how to get started with homeschooling, we’ve got you covered.
