Benefits Of Homeschooling
So you have decided to check out this concept called homeschooling. Maybe some of your friends are doing it. Maybe you read an article online about it. Whatever the case, you want to know what are the benefits of homeschooling.
Well here are five benefits of homeschooling:
1) You have control over what they learn
One of the biggest concerns for many parents is that they don’t know what their children are learning at school. Whether it is curriculum that you disagree with, teachers who are bad role models, or bad influence from joining the wrong crowd, you can’t really see what is going on and the effect it has on your children until it is too late.
Through homeschooling you maintain some level of control. It’s true that you can never have complete control and that your children will grow into individuals who live their own lives, make their own mistakes, and learn a lot of things on their own, even if they are homeschooled.
But you still have an opportunity to lay a firm foundation of good morals, good judgment, and wise choices, through a morally sound curriculum. For parents who fear that the school system is corrupting their children, homeschooling is a great alternative.
2. Spend more time with your children
In many families these days, parents and children rarely spend time with each other. The children are at school, have after school activities, have homework to do, and play on their own in their rooms, while the parents are busy with work, social media, and their own lives. Too often we miss the best years of our children’s lives and they grow into strangers that we can’t relate to.
With homeschooling you have an opportunity to spend more time with your children, and to be their teacher and their friend. It is an opportunity to grow together and have many great memories as you teach them new things and you learn and explore new things together.
Compare the situation of your child going on his first excursion to a nature reserve with his teachers and friends to the case of him going for such an outing with his family. In the first, he will have fond memories of his teachers and friends, while the latter creates fond memories of his parents and siblings.
Wouldn’t you like your children to one day reflect back at their childhood and have lots of amazing memories of their parents? Homeschooling provides an opportunity to build such a memorable childhood.
3. You can focus on what matters
Time management, confidence, teamwork, leadership skills, entrepreneurial skills, preparing for marital life, parenting, and adulthood, these are among some of the most important things that children and teenagers should learn.
Yet none of these are part of the core curriculum at schools, which would rather focus on things which they may or may not use in life, but are less relevant and important.
Through homeschooling, you have an opportunity to teach your children these important skills as part of the syllabus at the appropriate time.
So that by the time they graduate and are ready to enter the adult world, they will have an edge over others by already knowing a lot more regarding the things that really matter.
4. They will be able to live a more fulfilling life
To me, school is like a prison without bars. The laws are just as restrictive, recess periods are shorter, but at least you get to go home in the afternoon. Going to school means spending twelve years of life in this overbearing environment which is nothing like the real world.
Homeschooled kids have more opportunity to play, explore, travel, have adventures, see the real world, enjoy life, gain a real education at a younger age, and make more memories, all while the others are stuck in a classroom.
5. They can study at their own pace
I find it ridiculous that all children are expected to go through school at the same pace. So I remember this being a primary reason why I found school boring. I would read through a year’s history textbook in a week or two, then sit in class for the rest of the year wondering why it takes others so long to learn something that could have been learned in a few weeks.
With homeschooling, each child moves at their own pace. If they find a specific section difficult, they can spend extra time on it until they master it. If they find certain concepts easy, they can fly through the entire textbook in weeks and move on to something more challenging.
A clear example of this with my children was Grade R (Kindergarten). I feel that my eldest wasted an entire year in Grade R, as I completed the same syllabus with my second child in three months. Likewise, both of older my children completed the Grade 1 syllabus in under eight months. Why waste an entire year on what can be learned in a few months?
(Information extracted from my eBook: Homeschooling 101)