It’s a big decision, but you’re not alone. Every year thousands of families choose to homeschool over sending their children to a traditional high school. There are many arguments both for and against homeschooling, but at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is if it will be suitable for your specific child. The homeschooling resources that are currently available to parents today online are vast.
This article will help you weigh the pros and cons of homeschooling so that you can make the best decision possible in regards to your child. Homeschooling is not an easy thing, but if you’re up to the task, it can be a great benefit to the academic success of your child.
Weighing the pros and cons of homeschooling
Of course, that’s a question you’ll have to answer for yourself, but over 1.7 million American families seem to think it’s a pretty good idea. The popularity of the homeschooling option has increased along with the ease of access to available resources and communities.
Deciding to homeschool can be a tough choice. You want what’s best for your children, but you also want what’s best for yourself. While homeschool is very hands on in K-8th, you can utilize an online program for the 9-12th-grade portion for more freedom and less effort on your part. You could even consider mixing a fully online high school program like the one offered by ARHS into your strategy. Having a high school diploma is always a good idea, even if your child is being homeschooled.
Homeschooling pros and cons
Homeschooling Pros:
- You control daily learning: These days it can be surprising what they teach, and don’t teach, kids in school. By homeschooling, you can help curate the information that your child learns and how they learn it.
- Promote stronger family values and bonds: By spending more time with your kids you can create stronger bonds and increase the cohesiveness of your family. Family is so important and homeschooling is a great example of something you can do to engrain this in your children.
- Reduce the opportunities for bullying: Bullying is a huge problem these days. A negative social environment can affect how well your child learns while increasing anxiety about their time at school. Social ridicule is one of the primary things that can make kids not want to go to school and develop a hatred for learning.
- Practical learning prepares them for the real-world: Homeschooling allows you to provide your children with specific skills that will help them in the real world.
Homeschooling Cons:
- Being a parent and teacher is hard: Homeschooling is not a walk in the park. Having to be both parent and educator can put a significant time burden on your day. Once you have committed to this path, it is very had to change courses. There is no doubt that homeschooling will add stress to your life.
- Homeschooling will reduce the time you can work: By becoming your child’s teacher, you will not have as much time to work. The loss of income can be hard and increase tension at home.
- Your kids will lose easy access to social peer groups: This route will most certainly mean some reduction in your child’s social interactions. You will have to take an active role in the socialization of your child and seek out groups of other children for them to interact with.
- Potentially less structure when compared to public school: Of course, how structured you make your homeschooling environment is entirely up to you. That being said, public school has a level of regimen that will be difficult to recreate at home.
Conclusion
Homeschooling has its pros and its cons. The decision can be a tough one, but it’s worth looking into. You have the opportunity to provide your child with an extremely high-quality education right from home, and that shouldn’t be taken for granted.