The Benefits of Homeschooling: Why More Families are Choosing to Educate at Home

Tradition dictates that once a child crosses a certain age it is time for them to go to school. In its defense, there are arguments for gaining knowledge in a competitive environment and learning how to socialize.

Undoubtedly, these are well-judged arguments for sending a child to school. They cannot be mollycoddled forever and need to learn in a competitive environment. Plus, if your child wants to be more social and come out of their domestic shell, they will need the school environment.

However, there are chances that the child might find it difficult to learn at school. Maybe competitiveness has a negative impact, or someone is not benefiting much from the school’s curriculum. Unfortunately for many, the academic pressure from school becomes so grand that one cannot help but adjourn their other passions.

This is where the perks of homeschooling come in, especially for gifted children whose passion might lie elsewhere and require time to explore. It could also save your child’s time and energy, pushing them toward improved academic efficiency.

Here are some of the other benefits of homeschooling.

What Is Homeschooling

It is a form of elective education that begins at school, meaning the child gets most of its educational assistance at home rather than going to a traditional school. Stay-at-home parents and tutors majorly produce this assistance.

There is a misconception with homeschooling that homeschooled kids are not learning the right curriculum or are not disciplined enough. However, the day-to-day (Monday to Friday) follows a strict routine.

They are also placed under regular studies and lesson plans, along with homework and assignments assigned by the tutors. Regarding the term-end examination, one has to enroll the child in the state or national open schooling institution. Only during the examination period will the child sit for their exams like normal school-going children.

This is the gist of how homeschooling works, and now we will look forward to some of the common homeschooling benefits.

Benefits Of Homeschooling

Benefits of homeschooling will include:

  • Academic benefits.
  • Extracurricular benefits.
  • Mental benefits.

Let’s understand each of the benefits one by one.

Academic Homeschooling

Academic benefits come to be the top priority when it comes to homeschooling. This is where one needs to convince the parents that their child wouldn’t fall behind in knowledge.

1. Efficient & Effective Learning

There is no student-teacher ratio that one has to take care of. Therefore, most of the attention could be provided to that child, utilizing most of the hours they are studying. There is less time wasted on the liner, and letting other people finish.

Any query is answered in real-time, making it more efficient for the child to learn quickly. This is more effective for specially-abled children who will have difficulty quenching all their queries in the competitive classroom environment.

This is not lessening their learning experience but rather playing on equity and giving them the ground to stand equally.

2. Customizing The Syllabus

Not everyone can benefit from the generic syllabus decided by the educational administrative board of the state. Yes, they might benefit most, but the exception shouldn’t suffer. Parents often have problems with the syllabus, and it is advised to homeschool their child rather than give petitions to the school board.

You can customize it to match your child’s educational needs and, most importantly, hire the best tutors in town to help them.

3. Valuing Individual Potential

Every child is born with a certain potential that can help them be a better version of themselves. As Shakespeare said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

This is the sad reality of the education system, but they put children in a rat race with no time to pay attention to individual talents.

If you want your child’s potential to not get overshadowed, homeschooling them will help to polish their skills better.

4. More Focus On Life Skills

How many times have we heard adults complain about not getting real “adulting” lessons from schools? One of the tops is learning how to efficiently do one’s taxes. This is why homeschooling is gaining such popularity now.

Not only can you decide your child’s academic lessons, but also the soft skills and other life lessons they are going to pay attention towards.

You are dividing the hours of your child’s daily academic plan, and with the help of good tutors, you can contribute an hour or two for more financial and entrepreneurial lessons. These can eventually help your child in the later years.

5. Beyond Academic Passion

Some gifted children do have their calling beyond academic passion. They are less inclined towards being academic and dwell in the traditional routine, giving, and assignment-submitting life. Rather they would focus on excelling in one extracurricular, like picking a sport or an art form.

For example, children who are training vigorously for the Olympics can benefit immensely from homeschooling since they do not have to maintain school attendance and assignment deadlines.

Homeschool – Extra Curricular

Other than academic homeschooling, there are also some extracurricular activities that your child can pursue.

More Time On Hand

Other than the learning part of the school, there are other elements that tire a child out. Especially the commute from school to home and back. When one can simply get ready in the morning and sit in their comfort zone to study, there is more time for extracurricular activities.

One can assess breaks depending on the child’s requirements and incorporate these extracurricular activities within the realm of recreation.

Exploring Fields Of Interest

With time the exploration increases. Yes, schools do provide extracurricular activities, but with homeschooling, you can choose your own syllabus, so to speak.

This gives students the opportunity to explore and then decide whether they wish to be done in their daily routine. An efficient way for students to understand their area of interest without being pushed on towards them.

Extracurricular With Academics

There are some extracurricular activities that come hand in hand with academic excellence. For example, playing with cheese every day can help build better cognition among children.

Through homeschooling, the student will be out of the bounds of a four-walled classroom and learn things beyond the books.

Homeschooling – Mental Health

Recent studies have shown that homeschooling has had a positive effect on a student’s mental health. Especially gifted children or specially-abled children who are facing more difficulty than normal in maintaining a stable mind while going to school every day.

Better Understanding & Learning

Learning is much faster when people have the undivided attention of a single teacher. For someone who is teaching a class of twenty, it is difficult to give singular attention to each one of them.

Sometimes lack of comprehension in a classroom can lead a child to a spiral of depression, where they constantly feel they are lagging behind. Homeschooling is a healthy way to eliminate this problem.

Where academic discipline is maintained by the parents or the tutor, but the unnecessary pressure is not there.

A Bullying Prevention

If a child cannot stand up to a bully, it is not the child’s fault. Children who suffer from autism or other physical and psychological problems are victims of bullying more often than not. If your child is going through this issue, it is not worth teaching them how to “deal with it” at the expense of their mental health and academic growth.

Now, many might argue that this will prevent the child from experiencing the difficulties of a tough world. However, if your child has been the victim this far, they have already survived it. Plus, with age, our mind molds towards building resilience towards tough situations; a child should have a childhood where they gather knowledge and do not fight the villains of the world.

Mental Health Lessons In The Curriculum

There are many schools who are yet to add mental health to the school curriculum, and the children are not aware of many coping mechanisms.

When it comes to homeschooling, since the curriculum is under your control, you can teach your children the importance of mental health.

How To Increase Social Skills

Homeschooling and social skills do not go hand in hand; this is probably the only disadvantage of this curriculum.

If you are planning to get your children homeschooled, here are some of the techniques in which you can increase their social skills.

  • Take them to playdates from a young age.
  • Try enrolling them into group extracellular classes like sports and dancing lessons rather than teaching them at home.
  • Get them elocution and public speech training at home to build their self-esteem.
  • Make social outings a part of the family routine every weekend.

Listen to your children and their schooling requirements before deciding to homeschool. Understanding their opinion and whether they would be comfortable with it is very important.

Get the best academic help out there, and get essay help for your homeschooled child when they are finally ready to go to college. Ensure that homeschooling is not having a negative effect on their learning and they are learning less than what is intended for their age.