Why do parents prefer homeschooling over traditional schooling
Trends in the education system are changing rapidly nowadays as parents in the present generation are more informed and educated.
They are capable of researching the methods that fit best for their children. Just a decade earlier, very few parents were familiar with homeschooling, but today more and more parents are shifting their focus towards homeschooling.
What is homeschooling?
As the name suggests, homeschooling is the method of educating children at home, unlike the traditional schooling methods where the children are sent to school to acquire education. Homeschooling has seen to produce better learning outcomes, which led parents to choose homeschooling as a preferred method of teaching, at least in their initial learning phases.
Benefits of homeschooling
Parents prefer homeschooling because of some issues that the traditional schooling method fails to cater to and the increasing benefits of homeschooling. The following are the benefits of this unconventional education method.
Interaction of disciple with instructors
Homeschooled children are associated with their teachers at an individual level; therefore, they are subjected to more focused learning. Due to this personalized interaction between students and teachers, children can be motivated to learn not by intimidation but by the sole purpose of gaining knowledge.
The instructor covers all his attention to just one child’s education, so he can easily monitor the learning pattern of that student. Keeping in view the pupil’s progress, the teacher can resort to alternative teaching methods if one method is not improving the child’s learning. Similarly, this student-teacher interaction allows them to have a flexible time that best suits the child.
Customized curriculum
In the homeschooling method of learning, the instructor is not bound to follow a fixed curriculum for teaching the child. He can choose to cover topics that he deems necessary to educate the child rather than teaching the topics that he was bound to teach in the traditional schooling system.
He can design the curriculum by customizing it according to the learning ability of the student. As the homeschooled child does not follow the curriculum of a particular grade, he has the flexibility of focusing more on the subjects he is interested in. This freedom of customizing education according to the needs of the students produces better learning outcomes.
No bullying
Bullying is one of the major concerns of parents while sending their children to schools. There has been seen a growing trend of bullying and harassment in schools that adversely affects the personality and mental health of the children.
Bullying shatters the children’s self-confidence and makes it difficult for them to attend school without going through a psychological burden. Homeschooling solves this problem of parents without getting their studies affected due to any mental pressure.
Less peer pressure
Studies have shown that peer pressure affects the learning of students. Peer pressure, unhealthy competition, and in the race of getting good grades, the essence of getting an education is lost. In traditional schooling, students focus more on getting grades higher than the others, and in the processes of doing so; they resort to unethical means of getting the grades.
They indulge in cheating and cramming, which has a negative impact not only on their education but also on their character. Homeschooling discards the traditional grading system, which takes away the motivation of resorting to unethical means of obtaining high grades. Eventually, the students draw complete attention towards obtaining knowledge.
Safe environment
Homeschooling provides a safer environment for students in the age of growing evils of society. Many parents are shifting away from traditional schooling because of increasing cases of harassment, sexual abuse, physical violence, drug addiction, and other types of toxicities that are contaminating the conventional schooling system.
Protecting their children from the evils of the outside world is the top priority of parents. Parents choose homeschooling, preferably in the early learning phase, as the younger children are more vulnerable to the external environment and are unable to differentiate between right and wrong.
Things to consider before taking the final decision of homeschooling
Homeschooled children are excluded from the traditional social process of getting an education; therefore, the parents must understand that socialization of the homeschooled child is different.
They need to provide balance by arranging outdoor activities and by making them a part of various events. Undoubtedly, homeschooling offers great benefits and better learning outcomes, but parents need to consider the expenses before making this decision. Homeschooling is an expensive mode of education because of hiring separate tutors and planning activities.
Azka Noor is a member of UNCTAD Youth Action Hub, Pakistan, and a student of Economics and Political Science at the Lahore University of Management Science. She has specialized in Search Engine Optimization from The University of California, Davis. The author is an avid researcher aiming to shape the lives of millions by pursuing a career in Education and Public Policy and digitally impacting lives by developing effective content marketing strategies.