What are the advantages and disadvantages of homeschooling?

Question

snoogans - I read somewhere that homeschooled children are more socially adjusted than are kids who go through the public school system.

Too many good answers. Hard to pick just one, so this one's going up for a vote. Thanks y'all!

Answer 1

Oh, how I wish Mother had home-schooled me my whole childhood so I could’ve truly NEVER HAD A COLD IN MY LIFE – NOOOOT!!! It was too late for that by the time I was entering kindergarten because despite having NEVER ATTENDED A DAYCARE OR PRESCHOOL in my entire 6 years of life, I’d NEVER GOTTEN THROUGH A WINTER WITHOUT A COLD!!! Yes, that’s right, even if you home-school them they’ll get the sniffles! And you know what? Not only will they have an immune system less prepared to deal with germs when they DO go out into the real world, as every doctor knows it’s the mollycoddled kindergarteners (like Cyrus & I) that get more colds than do the ones who’ve been to daycare, but they’ll also be LESS PREPARED TO DEAL WITH SOCIAL SETTINGS in the work force! I mean, as much as I hated being picked on in school, I can’t help but think that maybe it prepared me for some of the slander I am currently enduring on this forum. Perhaps if Cyrus and I had NEVER been through public school, learning that words really won’t kill you, we might have committed suicide over the fact that we’ve been cloned several times on this forum. But instead, we are working closely with the Yahoo staff to try to nip it in the bud. So there’s more to school than just reading, writing, and arithmetic, which is why my mother DID NOT choose to home-school me OR my precious little sister Daphne who is now a 14-year-old freshman in high school. It gives a kid a reason to want to get out of bed and meet new people, which is why despite a college degree, I can’t stop going to college – life without school is unimaginable to me.

Answer 2

Advantages:

No bullies
No rumors spread through school
The student only is around what the parents approve of (such as language)
They can move ahead when they're ready, or take longer to get through a subject
Possibly more mature as a teenager
They learn that "not doing homework" isn't an option (I will never understand how some people can do that)
Parents have more control over the child
You can travel more
School work gets done earlier/later in the day...when it's done it's done, whether it's 10 am or 10 pm.
Don't have to get up to be at school by 8
Some people say homeschoolers are smarter

Disadvantages:

Child is around parent all day
Less opportunities to make friends(but certainly not impossible)
Teacher might not be the best
A lot of interuptions during the school day (siblings, phone, many others)

Many more pros and cons but I don't have time to type them

Answer 3

Wrong! You are more socialised if you are homeschooled rather then being stuck in an artificial setting apart from the real world, in school you are only with kids your age. Homeschooled children socialise with people of all ages all day!!! You are not allowed to socialise in school..when can you really talk?? People are thinking backwards, it's the schooled kids that aren't socialised. also, it does not matter if a child learns to read if he is 7 or 10 or even 13! People have been brainwashed by the educational system.a child will retain knowledge when he is free to choose to learn it.

Answer 4

Advantage: Parental Control
Disadvantage: Very stressful for parents.

I've found that a good middle ground is online homeschool curriculum. The parents still have control, but it takes a lot of the legwork out of homeschooling.

Check out the links for a few examples. They have some neat free resources for homeschoolers.

www.TheJubileeAcademy.org: PreK-12 Christian Online Homeschooling Resource Center
www.TheGraceAcademy.org: Teacher-Assisted K-12 Christian Online Homeschool
www.TheMorningStarAcademy.org: PreK-12 Private Christian Academy

Also, take a look at the HSLDA at www.hslda.org. They have a ton of helpful info for those interested in getting into homeschooling.

Then, head on over to www.homeschoolspot.com. It's a great message board for voicing your questions about homeschooling as well.

Answer 5

First off, I want to point out that no two kids, even within the same family, will come out of any kind of schooling with the same mindset or the same experiences. You won't have Jimmy and Jamie the Homeschooled Clones. It's not always the best decision even, and I say that as a homeschooled girl. Sometimes people homeschool for the wrong reasons, or in the wrong way. A particular family I know comes to mind; one spoiled blind-and-deaf boy, one epileptic boy, and one girl who takes every neutral action or inaction as a personal offense.
You're probably thinking "what can you do BUT homeschool these kids?"
I'm thinking, "You homeschool them with an ounce of discipline."
All three of these children are severely under-average in their schoolwork, not because they're stupid, or blind/deaf, or epileptic, but because their parents have given in to the temptation to mollycoddle them to death. The blind boy never tries to learn and when he's not given his way in every little thing, he throws a fit. The parents swallow it hook line and sinker. Same with the other two. I honestly doubt that any of them will go to college (if by chance one does, it'll be the girl), mainly because they've never been taught ambition or motivation or that life sucks and you just gotta deal with it.

Another point: You can't make a kid born to be a loner bookworm into a social butterfly, or a wild thing into the next Mitch Taylor (reference to "Real Genius", 1985, directed by Martha Coolidge and starring Val Kilmer). You'll get a very sour, unhappy, adolescent.

Okay, now that I've said that, here's a condensed list of pros and cons of proper homeschooling*:

Pro: Child will have a wider vocabulary and increased creativity.
Con: Child will have to translate him-or-herself often, and play will occasionally become too offbeat for some to comprehend.

Pro: Child will have increased motivation for both short-and-long-term goals
Con: Child might, feasibly, become so dedicated as to skip meals in lieu of pausing work

Pro: Child has greater confidence in his or her own abilities
Con: Child might become arrogant

Pro: Child's entertainment is (ideally) screened
Con: If not explained, the screeining might be interpreted as sheltering

Pro: Child develops a uniqueness in tastes
Con: Child might show up in public wearing a doublet, cowboy boots, and cutoff corduroys

Pro: Child develops a sense of culture and an understanding of at least some of the arts
Con: Child may become overly excited about going to the art museum

Pro: Child is independent and trustworthy
Con: Child might be a member of the CIA and you'd never know it.

Pro: Child has good grammar
Con: Child may correct others' grammar (Grammar gestapos, Forward march!)

Pro: Child will probably listen to the parent's preferred music
Con: Chld may sing some Frank Sinatra at the top of his or her lungs

Pro: Child will graduate high school with a sense of accomplishment and anticipation of things to come
Con: In college, the child may not fit into a demographic on the class survys (this has happened to me a number of times)

Pro: Child will sound like a 13-year-old going on 40
Con: Child will sound like a 13-year-old going on 40

Pro: Child will understand his or her strengths and weaknesses
Con: Child may not try to take advantage of strengths and improve weaknesses

*Some of the cons here a facetious. I'm sure you can figure out which ones.

Answer 6

www.nheri.org has all of the true statistics about homeschooling.

Yes, parents are not socialized very well when homeschooling. We spend most of our time focused on our children and their studies, their activities, and their friends. We parents do indeed miss out on parent teacher conferences!!!!
Ohhhhhh, boooooo hoooo!!! ;-) but, on the other side of that is the fact that we don't need conferences for the teacher to tell us what and how our children are doing because we already have those answers!!!

Advantage: Individualized study plan, one on one tutoring, ability to learn without obstacles (peer pressure, trouble makers, slow or below level students in the same class, being rushed...plus many more.), opportunity to think for yourself, time for independent interests, time to master the material instead of only a quick intro., strong family ties, being well liked in the community, vacation when YOU choose..... the list goes on.

To whomever thinks that negative influences are a good thing..... LOL.

Disadvantage: None.

We strive for the best for each child. No middle ground here. We want our children to excel in their talent and skill.


hey ---- I hope that "paleozoictra..." sees this note: I LOVE your answer to the question ---- I'm still smiling ---- thank you for the humor!!!!!

Answer 7

Personally I believe that it's ridiculous to assume that you know about home school when you have never been. You don't find as many people talking badly about public schools when they've never been...
About never becoming use to bullies and people slandering, hello, I got enough of that just because I was home schooled and last time I checked parents didn't place their kids in bad situations simply so that when they were older they would "know how to handle it".
If you want the statistics, I'll give them to you because I am obviously biased...They are as follows:

"The average homeschool 8th grade student performs four grade levels above the national average (Rudner study). One in four homeschool students (24.5%) are enrolled one or more grades above age level. Students who have been home schooled their entire lives have the highest scholastic achievement. In every subject and at every grade level of the ITBS and TAP batteries, homeschool students scored significantly higher than their counterparts in public and private schools."

"Studies also show homeschoolers mature and better socialized than are those sent to school. Dr. John Wesley Taylor's nationwide study revealed that the self-concept of home school students was significantly higher than that of public school students for the global and all six subscales of the Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale. The Galloway-Sutton Study (performed in 1997), showed that from five success indicators (academic, cognitive, spiritual, affective-social and pyschomotor), comparing with public and private schooled students, "in every success category except pyschomotor, the home school graduates excelled above the other students." "

Answer 8

Advantages are you study at your own pace and that helps alot becuase if you dont understand a subject you can go back and study it till you do without worry that you will fall behind. disadvantages are that you arent really around people your age as much as you would be at public school. I would recomend sign up for sports or clubs so you get to socialize with people your age.

Answer 9

Well i'm a highschool student who is "homschooled" although i'm in a cyber-charter school..which is a school that is taught over the internet. Ofically its a public school, but everyone calls it homeschooled.

Advantages..you can go at your own pace, more freedom, you can basically go to school naked if you wanted haha

Disadvantages..you have to be very motivated and responsible to be able to go through, becuase you dont have somebody there actually forcing you to do the work. Also, if you like to be around people all the time..obviously not the best choice.

However, just because you dont go to public school does NOT mean you have no social skills, or that you are a social idiot.

Answer 10

Many people always say that home schooled kids don't make friends,or get proper "Socialization",but that is such a lie.Home school kids make all sorts of friends,from 5 to 50,and they have WAY better relationships with there parents then public school kids.I'm home schooled,and I have friends,and I couldn't have a better relationship with my parents.So there

Answer 11

My child goes to school at home , and the advantages are: the school offers live chat class rooms with real teachers,so its more like one on one. they can go at their own pace, learning more to their advantage. there really are no disadvantages, beings my child's education is most important whether it be done in public school or at home.