It has always been accepted that parents have an inherent right to determine how to raise and educate their children. These days, the education decision is made more complex for the simpler decision of private versus public schooling is given a third rival: homeschooling.
Homeschooling holds an obvious advantage over the other two in that as a parent, you are allowed to be completely hands-on with your child’s education. From scheduling to curriculum, and to the sort of development you want to be imbibed in him or her through that education.
While these advantages may hold under any circumstance, it is important for you as a parent to also understand the disadvantage of homeschooling as well. Only then can you be certain that you are making the right and educated decision in choosing to homeschool over the other two.
Whether it is through private or public schooling, the majority of people in India have attended regular school. Those same people tend to be against homeschooling. The people who take a position against homeschooling do so for many different reasons.
Children develop socially and emotionally by their surroundings. The child who has been home-schooled all their life is thus more apt to be withdrawn and shy around outsiders. People who are against homeschooling cite that regular schools give children the opportunity to make friends and join school clubs – activities that promote a healthy social life. For the children who have been homeschooled, their chances of making new friends are limited, depending on their family situation, and for home-schooled children that have siblings, those siblings become the primary friends.
The regular school also provides a solid curriculum. People who are against homeschooling argue that parents cannot provide their children with the same level of academic stability and opportunity. Parents who home-school their children have to rely upon either their own planned curriculums or curriculums that they find – curriculums that differ widely and thus can lead to different levels of academic preparedness.
People who are against homeschooling also count the topic of real-life knowledge among the reasons why children should not be home-schooled. The regular school does not only offer instruction regarding academic matters with the opportunity to join clubs and make friends, but it also prepares children to deal with life issues through classes such as social studies.
Parents who homeschool their children may be able to teach this, but to what extent? Allowing their children to read newspapers or watch television news can lead to biased opinions. Teachers know this and teach children the skills they need to be able to rationalize social truths for themselves. Those who are against homeschooling argue that parents teaching their children are ill-equipped to deal with such situations.
While socialization factors are perhaps the most prevalent reason why some people are against homeschooling, one cannot deny that like it or not, homeschooling is a choice made for children on the part of the parents. However, parents should not have the ultimate choice as to whether or not to home-school their children. It is the children who need to learn, thus they should be allowed to choose the method that they think is best for them.
Time & Money Investment
The first obvious argument against homeschooling is the amount of investment you have to make as a parent. Why? Homeschooling leaves the responsibility of educating your child completely to you. This means you’re going to have to research and collate a curriculum for your child, as well as determine your supplemental activities that will enhance this learning experience.
This means having to invest greater time in your child than a normal working parent would. Homeschooling may require either parent to stay home and be the teacher or may put greater stress on parents who both work for a living. This is one of the major homeschooling cons.
No Accredited teacher
This also means doing away with the expertise of an accredited teacher. Trained teachers are equipped with the knowledge to teach a wide range of topics as well as strategies to stimulate greater learning and active participation. As a parent without this training, you may find it necessary to do much more research, especially as you determine what you want to teach your child.
Also, they tend to go to extremes when dealing with their children such as pushing the child too hard or letting him/her get away with not much studying.
Fewer avenues of socialization
The classroom setting provides inherent benefits of socialization to your child. Homeschooling takes away this opportunity for your child to interact with other children in the learning environment. Although your child may have siblings to interact with, this may translate to your child not being exposed to a wider gamut of ideas and perspectives. A classroom with children from different backgrounds and personal beliefs provides your child with ideas that may stimulate his mind to think and criticize.
The child’s social life gets restricted; when a child goes to school he/she learns to adapt and coexist with others, this, is very important in a child’s future to be able to adapt to different situations later in life such as finding a job and working in an office.
Visit and talk to people who have undergone homeschooling. This may help you get to know more about the potential disadvantages of homeschooling, and perhaps, help you learn how to appropriately respond to them to make homeschooling work for you. Start a list of the pros and cons of homeschooling to keep track of where you are in your research.