Home Schooling is the process of providing education to a child at home, by his parents or by a qualified tutor, rather than sending him to a public or private school. Also known by the name of Home Education or Home School, the process was very much in vogue in the earlier times. However, with times, the trend has changes and majority of the kids have started attending schools. Still, there is a significant proportion of parents who prefer their kids to have homeschooling, sometimes because of religious concerns or because the family is based in a remote area. Read on to get more information on home schooling.
Pros of Home Schooling
There are a number of advantages of getting a child educated at home. Some of them have been mentioned below:
- Some children are early birds; while for some rising early is a big chore. In homeschooling, you can easily schedule your child’s education to the time when he is most likely to grasp things.
- In homeschooling, kids do not need to follow a set curriculum. They can study a wide range of subjects, depending on their interest & capabilities.
- Home schooling of a kid is much more flexible than his education at a school. You can take leaves when you want and study when all the schools have been closed for holidays.
- By teaching at home, parents get a lot of time to spend with their children - especially mommies. Since they are so much involved with the kids, a much greater and stronger bond starts to develop.
- Homeschooling helps avoid all the problems associated with sending a child to school, like bullying, adjustment problems, peer pressure, too much competition, etc.
- In a school, a class comprises of atleast 30 students. It is very difficult for the teacher to give attention to each child and personalize the teaching as per his/her abilities. However, this problem is not encountered in case of home schooling.
Cons of Home Schooling
Every coin has two sides. Similarly, in addition to advantages, homeschooling has a few disadvantages too.
- Homeschooling a kid is as good as a full time job. Parents need to do research, get all the necessary things like books, organize the schedule and then, teach. It might be possible that because of home responsibilities, a kid’s education gets neglected or vice versa.
- Since home schooling requires so much time and effort, it might eat into the personal space of parents. They need to make sure that also take out time for themselves, relatives as well as friends.
- Parents who home school their kids often end up comparing them with those who go to school. This might ultimately lead to an inferiority complex in the child.
- In a school, a child meets other kids belonging to different castes, religious, ethnicities, etc. It is here that he develops qualities like inter-personal skills, leadership, team-work, etc. Homeschooling, resulting in less interaction with others, might make him an introvert.
- One of the parents has to sacrifice his career for home schooling the kids, since both the things cannot go hand in hand. This might create a financial strain on the family.
- Healthy competition encourages a person to do that something extra. Homeschooling might lead to a total lack of competition in kids.