Education – articles

The pros and cons of home schooling

To make an informed decision on the transition to a new form of education, it is necessary to carefully consider everything, weighing the pros and cons of home schooling.

What can home schooling give you and your child?

1) Individual programme – individual, not standardized training. With home schooling, you can design both the educational programme and the curriculum yourself, based on your child’s interests, personality and progress. You can delve into one subject and go through an intensively different one, set up an experiment, make a project, do research or go on an educational journey. No one else will tell you when and which topic to take, which tasks to do and which textbooks to study. Learning will be an exciting process, full of amazing discoveries and surprises. Of course, don’t forget about the certification deadlines to prepare for this time.

2) Better results than the traditional form of learning. It is a proven fact that children in home schooling learn better than their school peers and get better results. And our experience proves it. Our students were tested by the Moscow Center for Quality of Education, participated in the All-Russian testing works, passed the JEG and the USE. All results are consistently above average Moscow results. Among our graduates there are steelworkers, medalists, winners of the final stage of the All-Russian Olympiad of Schoolchildren.

3. Ability to devote academic time only to study. No one has any doubts that a huge amount of teaching time at school is spent not just ineffectively, but simply in vain. And if you add to this the classroom and school activities, time for the road, it turns out that home schooling can be built much more effectively than school.
4. using the latest technologies and approaches. Home schooling is the fastest growing alternative form of education. Since family learning is chosen by parents who are genuinely interested in their child’s education, the programmes, materials and methods offered are of the highest standard. Modern technology can make learning more flexible and diverse. Children now learn the latest technology often faster than their parents, so the new forms of learning are perceived as “cheering up”.
5. Less time is spent on classes than at school. This is a plus that almost all children note in their Benefits of Homeschooling. And the reason is not at all that the family students pass some “reduced” program or take their studies seriously. It’s just the opposite. It is the responsible approach to the lessons allows you to pass during school hours significantly more than in a traditional school. As a result, children learn topics faster than their schoolmates.
6. More creativity, less boredom. Who says that learning is what happens within the school walls, behind the desk, with the textbook in hand and the teacher at the blackboard? And let most people learn that way. What prevents you from going to the park to study botany or to visit the planetarium when you pass the star system? You are not limited to the school framework, and for you the whole world is an educational space. Being able to acquire knowledge not from textbooks but from primary sources not only increases efficiency, but also develops a “passion” for the subject.
7. Studying is more than that. At school, everything is measured by the grades in the diary and the JEG and SEG scores. At home, children learn to form their own portfolio, which shows real knowledge and skills. Visible results become more and more important both for universities and later for employers.
8. The goals and objectives are set by you. At school, children learn what someone who does not know your child and his needs has formulated for the goals set by the faceless state machine. In home schooling, you choose what, how and when you will study.
9. Meaningless tests, tasks and reports are a thing of the past. The dry language of school textbooks, the formal approach to presentation of material, and the boring tasks that are detached from real life are probably familiar to every student. How can students be eager to learn if they are forced to do the same type of tasks and meaningless tests? And in home schooling, children after reading an interesting book can write a review post in blogs or on the forum and read the opinions of others, learn more about the author and read his other works.
10. Flexibility and convenience. You no longer have to drive your child away at a certain time and then pick him up from school. And you can schedule your vacation at any time, not just for the “hot season” of summer holidays.

However, there may be some difficulties

1. Responsibility. When switching to home schooling, you will be fully responsible for the education of your children. If something goes wrong, you can no longer blame bad teachers or a rigid system. Although parents of children in traditional schools are also responsible for the education of their children, firstly, they share this with the school, and secondly, they have many times less opportunity to influence the outcome.
2. 2. Time. Apart from a rare evening or weekend when children are at grandparents’, they will be with you: every day, all day. But this is also one of the advantages of family education. You will finally have time to build a close relationship with your children, to really get to know each other.
3. 3. Freedom. Now you can send the children to school and go away on your own business. On the other hand, home schooling can help you learn to manage your time better and become more creative. You can take advantage of home schooling, talk to specialists who will offer you the best training program for your child, and you can work remotely and find time for yourself.
4. 4. Qualification. Many parents are not sure that they have the knowledge, skills and patience to teach their children. But you can learn everything. Home schooling has taught so many parents to stay calm when their children are noisy, to be flexible if they are tired, to become magicians if they are bored. There are no ideal parents, nor are there ideal teachers, but we all develop and learn from our own experience.
5. Lack of knowledge. Are you afraid that your children will have gaps in knowledge, that in the end they will not know something? That they will ask you questions that you don’t know the answer to? You can’t know everything, and you don’t have to. The main thing is to give your children the tools to find the information they need and teach them how to work with it. Besides, it is so interesting to look for answers and learn together with children!
6. Restrictions at home. Most likely, in your home there is no playground, pool or music class, but life is not limited to the home. You can choose the playgrounds and clubs that best suit your children’s needs.
7. Independence. Sooner or later you will need to “tear your child away from the apron”, but not at 7 years. The sharp push for independence in school makes children rely on each other, and your child’s peers have just as little life experience. As a result, “the blind leads the blind”. Family education provides parents with the opportunity to serve as an authority and influence for their children longer, giving them as much freedom and independence as they can suffer.
8. 8. Criticism. It is likely that some of your friends and relatives will not support your decision. Well, it’s impossible to please everyone. Just remember that school education is very far from ideal and is subject to even more criticism. But most are used to walking the beaten path and not trying to find better ways.
9. Lack of socialization. Some believe that children in home schooling spend the whole day in four walls and, as a result, are not able to communicate with their peers. Of course, in the transition to family education all the responsibility for the socialization of the child falls on your shoulders. But there are a huge number of places where your child can communicate with peers and not feel isolated from society. Clubs and sections, development centres and creative homes – you will have a much wider choice than parents who prefer traditional schooling, because you will have much more opportunities to build your child’s own timetable. In addition, school experience is not always positive, and home schooling will allow you to protect your child from the negative impact and give him the opportunity to develop fully.
10. The transition to full-time education. It may happen that you will need to move your child back from family education to traditional education. This is a complex process, but it will be easier if your child has the skills to work independently. In addition, these skills will help him to achieve better results in full-time education than his peers.

As with any question, the pros and cons are relative. Even if there are difficulties, overcoming them can be a plus in the future, because when a child enters a university, all the skills for successful learning will be developed. self-education, career development.