The Benefits and Drawbacks of Homeschooling

The trending controversy over whether a child should homeschool has been debated in most households, and although some parents believe it is helpful, other parents do not. Since most parents choose their own particular parenting style, they choose to choose the appropriate mode of education for their children depending on factors such as medical reasons, social reasons, or influence over their children's schooling (Marcovici, 2013). The key advantages of homeschooling include more time availability, better family relationships, and reduced exposure. Homeschooling, on the other hand, comes with a number of drawbacks, including high costs, time commitment, and minimal peer participation. Therefore, despite the fact that homeschooling has been preferred, some parents argue that it is challenging. Homeschooling is beneficial since it provides flexibility of time for the children. Homeschooling provides flexibility in the management of time and allows the children to learn on their based on the time that is suitable (Martin, 2013). This becomes beneficial in situations where a parent discovers that their children are mostly active at a particular time of the day, and thus may organize homeschooling to be conducted during such periods. Some children also experience sleep disorder, where they tend to wake up late in the morning. For such children, their parents may control the time and hours that the children may complete their home studies. Therefore, homeschooling allows the flexibility of time schedules and allows the children to learn when they are most comfortable.

Homeschooling provides the advantage of close family relationships, where parents tend to spend most of their time with their children (Fedele, 2010). The normal institutional schooling consumes the children's time in that, they leave home in the morning and arrive back in the evening. However, homeschooling provides the parents with time to check up on their children during lunch hours and other breaks, thus strengthening the bond between the parents and the children. Furthermore, the parents get the chance to assist the children and motivate them to learn thus shaping a huge part of their lives. During lunch breaks, the parents may have time with their children thus ensuring that they eat well and enjoy the meal they prefer without any interruption.

Homeschooling also ensures that the child is less exposed to social vices such as vulgar language, bullying, drugs, peer pressure and sexual affairs. Normal institutional learning centers accommodate different type of children with different beliefs and activities. While the students interact during class activities or break hours, the students may share information that may be inappropriate to others (Marcovici, 2013). Homeschooling ensures that a child is dis-engaged from such situations and does not learn bad behaviors from the other students. The bad behaviors and activities have a negative effect on the children, and such exposure may affect their education and mostly, their personalities. Therefore, homeschooling prevents such exposure and provides uninterrupted learning session to the children

Despite the fact that homeschooling is beneficial to some parents, other parents consider it a no-deal because it is costly for the parents to afford such services (Martin, 2013). To some parents who are working towards achieving their financial success, homeschooling may be an expensive activity since the provision of the educational requirements that could have been provided in schools may be expensive to them. In addition, homeschooling requires one parent to remain at home with the child during the lessons. The opportunity cost of forgoing the income for the parent remaining at home may be high and may result in financial instability.

Homeschooling also hinders the children from interacting with other children, thus limiting their social growth. “Indeed, the peer interaction is an essential aspect of young students since it engages mental coupling thus viewing things in a different perspective (Marcovici, 2013).” For this reason, homeschooling hinders the children from sharing ideas, games, and stories thus hindering their physical and mental growth.

In addition, homeschooling may be time-consuming because the time schedules may not be strictly followed by the parents conducting such lessons. In situations where a parent is managing more than one child, it may be challenging for the parent to manage each child independently thus wasting much time (Fedele, 2010). Some parents may also waste more time in preparing schedules for their children since they lack enough experience in such activities, thus providing inadequate education for their children.

In conclusion, every parent has a different way of parenting, and their choice of their children’s education may be dependent on various factors (Marcovici, 2013). It is evident that the rate of homeschooling has grown over the years and its benefits include the flexibility of time, closer family relationships, and less exposure to bad things. While other parents consider homeschooling beneficial, others regard it to be disadvantageous because it is costly, it consumes more time, and it involves less peer interactions. Therefore, parents should consider the requirements for an effective homeschooling and decide on most beneficial education system for their children.

References

Fedele, R. (2010, May 13). When it comes to schooling, there's no place like home. RetrievedFebruary 23, 2016, fromhttp://www.smh.com.au/national/education/when-it-comes-to-schooling-theres-no-place-like-home-20100513-v1cw.html

Marcovici, M. (2013). The Homeschooling Debate: All the Pros and Cons to Make a Sound Decision About the Future of Your Child.

Martin, M. (2013, August 6). Parents on the pros and cons of homeschooling. Parenting. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2013/08/06/209512313/parents-on-the-pros-and-cons-of-homeschooling