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What are the Pros and Cons of Home Schooling?

Diana Bocco
Diana Bocco

Home schooling has become a popular choice over the past two decades. In fact, the US Department of Education estimates that about two million families are currently holding home schooling classes for their children. If you are considering skipping traditional schools but are not sure this is the best choice for your child, here is a quick overview of the pros and cons of home schooling.

PROS

  • Control. One of the biggest allures of home schooling is the ability of choosing what your child learns, when he learns it, and at what speed. This includes favoring certain subjects over others, creating your own schedule, holding classes outdoors if you like, and even taking vacations any time you want without worrying about missing classes.

  • Freedom. Home schooling allows parents the freedom of educating as they see fit, and children the freedom of not having to mold to social standards. One of the reported benefits of home schooling is the lack of peer pressure kids experiment in traditional school. It also gives parents the option of giving more or less homework according to family situation. If it's a particularly stressful or difficult time, children get a break along with the parents.

CONS

  • Hard work. Home schooling means less stressful environments for the children, but a lot of additional work for parents. As parents become teachers, they have to deal with planning, organizing lessons, taking field trips, and correcting work. This can be especially taxing when combined with a full-time job.

  • No breaks. No matter how much you love your children, sometimes it's a good thing that you get a break from each other. Home schooling means you don't get much time for yourself, unless children are involved in a variety of out-of-home activities, such as sports or music or language lessons.

  • A lot of questions. You will also get some disapproval. People won't understand why you're doing this and they will question if this is the best thing for your child. Even if you don't care about other people's opinions, it can get tiring to hear the same thing over and over.

Discussion Comments

ninetydegree

Another benefit for home schooled kids in high school is the opportunity to go at their own pace. Gifted kids can test at the local college and have the ability to dual enroll in college classes.

These credits are counted for both high school and college.

The best part about dual enrolling for your homeschooler? The classes are free and the only thing you have to pay for is books! Some kids get their AA finished by the time they graduate from high school!

Dond1973

Pros- you will have the ability to focus on worthwhile subjects in my case those subjects would be mathematics, physics, chemistry, and other sciences, and of course art and music. Therefore other subjects would be taught but not as much emphasis would be placed on them.

More Pros. Your child will be able to home school his or her kids when he or she is older.

You also can teach your child about finishing the job and don't stop at grade school or elementary -- teach him all the way through college to the point of a masters degree or even further. Then you will have truly taught the "Canon of Knowledge" to your child.

The Cons. The parent won't teach the child about meaningful relationships between friends or the casual dealings with acquaintances. Therefore, there will be some degree of the child regressing to shyness and avoiding others. Or maybe he will act like a prisoner who gets out of solitary confinement, and makes a fool of himself for the rest of his life or until it is corrected.

If it were up to me and i were the kid i would rather go to school and be (home jobbed) and paid to be at home and do chores or something.

Well, whatever you decide, I'm sure that it will all work out. Who knows? Maybe he or she will cure cancer, aids, or the common cold -- or quite possibly, solve the Grand Unification Theory that physicists are calling the Holy Grail of their field.

Who knows? He or she could become the mirror image of you or at least just live his or her life just like you want him or her to. I can tell you one thing: I'm pretty sure that he won't smoke a cigarette or curse when he is in his late teens. Because all that damn experimenting would be the end of the world. Good luck.

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