Benefits and Disadvantages of Home Schooling - Research Paper Example

Benefits and Disadvantages of Home Schooling Home schooling is a trend that is becoming popular in the education sector today with many parents being dissatisfied with the public school system and opting to teach their children at home on their own. Many have chosen to do this mainly because they do not believe that their children would do well in a school environment where there is a lot of competition as well as a lack of attention from teachers. There have been complaints that the quality of education at public schools has been dropping and that the diplomas that are awarded to students after high school tend to be largely useless because of the fact that many of these students tend to be illiterate. These tend to find it very difficult to cope in a working environment, and some even have problems getting employment because they do not have the necessary skills to do the jobs which they aspire to. To combat this, many parents are finding it worthwhile to teach their children themselves, and this has made home schooling very popular with a growth rate of ten to fifteen percent every year. Statistics show that home schooled children tend to do better than those in public schools, but despite this there have also been arguments against it with some saying that education is not all about getting good grades but also about learning social skills, which, as many feel, these children do not have (Wolfe). In this paper, we shall discuss the pros and cons of home schooling, and at the end of it we shall determine whether it is the best way of educating children. One of the benefits of home schooling is the fact that the students are able to study whatever topics or subjects they want and for as long as they want while also covering what can be considered to be basic knowledge (Ryan). This helps a lot when determining their areas of interest and what field they would like to specialize in as the focus of their further education. Since this is determined early, home schooled students tend to work towards their life goals at an earlier age, and it is a common thing for them to be done with their education much earlier than their colleagues in public schools are. Not only are they able to comprehend better what they are taught, but the idea that they are being allowed to do the subject that they want to do acts as a motivator for them to work even harder. The basic education of a home schooled student can be completed between the ages of six and ten according to their ability. This ensures that they have all the time they need to concentrate on their subjects of interest until are well versed in them or when they are ready to do other subjects that have caught their interest. Educational freedom gives the student enough time not only to study what they wish at a specific time but also helps in their mental and academic development as there is no pressure to do those subjects they do not want to do in a hurry. Home schooling allows for the physical freedom not only of the students involved but also of their parents as well because their lives no longer revolve around school hours but are determined by the amount of school work which has been set for the students for a particular day. After being withdrawn from the public school system, it is a very normal situation for students to suffer from shock, but after the initial shock is gone, subsequently these students experience a new sense of freedom, which they never experienced while they were in the school system. They not only get to have more free time on their hands because home schooling is not as rigorous as the public schooling, but they also get to spend more time with their families, which is a very aspect. This helps to promote better understanding between the parents and their children and is an advantage over many students in the public school system. Those in the school system tend to have less freedom of movement because they have to work for long hours every day, and when they come home, they always have homework to do, which restricts their freedom even further, for they cannot do any other activities until they have finished homework. Home schooling is therefore more advantageous to students for the reason that their freedom is not always as restricted. Home schooling is very beneficial to students because it provides them with the emotional freedom, which enables them to thrive in both their academic as well as their personal lives (“Advantages of Home Schooling”). One of the most detrimental effects of the public school system is the fact that most of the students lack self-esteem because of the peer pressure, competition, and bullying, in particular. Working in such an environment always leads to the failure of students in all aspects concerning their lives because they lack confidence, which is necessary for the successful development of their lives. This is very different from those students who are on home schooling since they do not have to face these problems. Home schooled students learn in an environment where they have better conditions to develop their self-confidence, for they are not under any pressure to either impress others or to listen to others criticize their physical appearance. Moreover, there are no bullies in the home schooling environment, and this helps these students a great deal because they can fully concentrate on their own studies or on doing something that is more meaningful to them than the things that would make them lose their confidence. Students who learn from home actually live in the real world, and they tend to be better at managing their lives from the example set for them by their parents. This helps a lot to stop them from indulging in things which are not good for them such as experimenting with drugs or being affected by the trends popular among adolescents. In difficult times, home schooling is always the best option for students due to the fact learning sessions can easily be adjusted to accommodate these difficulties. This is unlike the public schooling system, which does not always consider the emotional welfare of the students, and the curriculum is kept going whether a student attends class or not. Home schooling allows students to be able to easier adapt to new circumstances. For example, when a family chooses to move from one place to another, the student does not necessarily have to undergo the emotional awkwardness that tends to accompany many students when they attend a new school or have to work in a different environment. Instead, the student will just pick up from where he left his lessons and continue with them without any sense of losing anything. Furthermore, during the times of bereavement, the student does not really need to worry about having to go back to school and the fact he is being left behind as all his lessons are done from home. All he has to do is to start from where he stopped, and he does not need to think about catching up. This ensures that the student gets to develop not only in his academics at his own pace, but also emotionally. The emotional development of a student is very important because it helps to determine how well he is able to receive what is being taught to him. This is a reason why home schooling may actually be a much better option than public schooling. One of the arguments made by those against home schooling is that it is very time consuming, especially for the parents (Shaw). It requires a parent to live in a very tight schedule in order to be in the position to help their children to work successfully in a home environment. They have to split their time between their own work and the schooling of their children, and this can be very difficult. Moreover, those parents who are single tend to have an even harder time because they not only have to work to provide for their children but also have to teach them, and all this is done without any help from a partner. Therefore, the parents tend not to have enough time for themselves, and more often than not they may end up being too tired to deal with the other matters that need their attention at home. This is very different from the public schooling system, which gives parents the time to be able to concentrate fully on their jobs and not being worried about their children every minute of the day. It enables them to be more productive in their work because it has their full attention. It is said that the visualization of parents seated at a kitchen table working to teach their children is just a myth, and in fact, for working parents, such moments are very rare, for they are always busy at work and rarely do they have the time to be in such spend so much time on their children’s education. Others have stated that home schooling is an activity that is out of the mainstream and that because of this it is possible that the students who go through it often feel odd and detached from others (“The Benefits and Disadvantages of Homeschooling”). Home schooling is seen as a threat by those professionals who are seeing ordinary parents succeed where they themselves have failed. These professionals often feel very threatened by this success and may even be tempted to discriminate against those students who have gone through this system just because of spite. Therefore, it is very prudent for parents to think very carefully before deciding to put their children through this mode of education. In conclusion, it can be said that the benefits of home schooling outweigh the cons and that it is worth it for those who try it. Home schooling is indeed becoming very popular today, and the successes achieved by home schooled children is encouraging more and more parents to provide it actively for their children. Despite the criticisms it has received from the mainstream education system, it has been found that home schooling is continuing to work much better than its counterpart, and it is quite possible that in the future this style of schooling will finally surpass all others types of school education. Works Cited “Advantages of Home Schooling.” allaboutparenting.org., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2012 “The Benefits (and Disadvantages) of Homeschooling.” Sonlight., n.d. Web. 13 October 2012 Ryan. “The Advantages and Disadvantages of Home Schooling.” Epinions, 2 Feb. 2006. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. Shaw, Isabel. “The Pros and Cons of Home Schooling”. Family education, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. Wolfe, Allen B. Pros and Cons of home schooling. Balancing the Sword, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. Read More