What are the pros and cons of home schooling?

Question

Its something I would love to consider but would like to know more details. Who can help?

Answer 1

Pros of homeschooling:
-Your children get more attention for academics, social behaviour, including manners, etc.
-Your children can go at their pace instead of the pace determined by the school teacher. This means they can take longer if they need to, but they also can move onto the next thing earlier, if they're ready.
-Much less wasted time. Homeschooling children do not have to: wait in line to go outside, wait for the teacher to notice they need help, wait for permission to go to the bathroom, wait until everybody's ready before the teacher will give the lesson, wait for the teacher to get through everybody reading or asking their questions...
-Because of less wasted time, homeschooled children get through their work more quickly and have more time to pursue personal interests, go on field trips, participate in extra-curricular activities or just plain play and be a kid.
-Parents get to be with their children more and vice versa. This means that parents are spending more time parenting than the school teacher is. This also means that, usually, the children feel their family is more important than their friends.
-Because homeschooled children are in a much more natural social environment--mixed ages instead of 30 kids all the same age--they don't usually care too much how old other kids are, if they're in the same grade; they have no problem talking to kids who are other ages or other grades.
-They also don't have 30 other kids as immature as they are as their primary behaviour models. This means that homeschooled kids tend to be more mature than their public schooled peers.
-Homeschooled children tend to grow up in a less materialism-oriented environment. At school, there is a constant little social battle going on about which brand of clothes you wear, how much this cost, who's got the latest i-Pod, etc.

Cons:
-There are a lot of ignorant people out there who will bad-mouth you.
-You do need to be willing to take it on and do your best for it to be the best option for your children. (Some people aren't really willing to put in what they need to and it doesn't work out so well.)
-Homeschooled children do tend to be different than other kids. Some people think this is a bad thing because the kids don't necessarily 'fit in' completely. I think it's wonderful because I don't want my kids to fit in if it means having to wear the latest popular clothes, wearing makeup at a young age, listening to a certain type of music because that's what's popular...

Answer 2

Hi Im Serious

Im Wismom.

We do homeschool and have for 8 years.

There is a lot we like about it and a lot we do not

The reaons you want to homeschool are the most important to look at.

FOr us .. it began as our child was way ahead,, then moving then sports schedules and so on

SHe has always had a good social life so that helps

he has had opportunites to go places and do more than the trad. students have.

HOWEVER

To do it right its not cheap...
THe olde they get the more time it takes to plan the lessons and the higher the cost.

Also it is really easy to lose your cool with an impatient preteen or any age child if you are mom teaching....

It can be too much time together..

But we all love the flexibility of it all... we can take of anytime we want and go for vacation someplace and take work with or leave behind...

If the work is done for the week by WED it done and the rest of the week is ours
So its good and bad.... you will have to look at your life and why you think it may be good.

One good thing is there are places like
Connections Academy,
and many school districts now have virtual schools

What this means is you can get books and puters and stuff for free trough your district... they grade tests and its all good

If your district does not have this.. you can find another one that does anywhere in the US and FREE choice your children in in FEB.. you can only do this in FEB.. SO for next year youd have to enroll them this FEB.

Connections Academy is tuition free if you enroll in FEB else its costs..
Check Out these links

www.dpi.state.wi.us/imt/viwis.html

www.connectionsacademy.com

www.rbnc.org/homeschl.htm

www.3moms.com/html/home_school_programs.asp

www.rsts.net/home/index.htm

www.compuhigh.com


There are a ton more

Well good luck
Wismom

Please dont pick me as best answer. We have a rule that if more than one of us in our family answers the same question... the Parents willask not to be chosen as best answer... We dont want to compete against our children,..and well we dont care about the points anyway :) Thanks!

Answer 3

There are some thoughtful answers here, but they are rather biased towards home schooling, as you would expect in this forum.

As an outsider, what I see when I get homeschoolers in my classes, is that a) they have generally very poor socialization skills. Although in theory they have joined scouts or a church group,in fact they have been WAY overprotected and dont know how to deal with people who are not like them, are aggressive, etc, in other words, all the people you meet in real life; b) they tend to have exaggerated ideas about their own abilities. Since they rarely actually had to compete with anyone, and their parents constantly told them how great they were doing, they tend to imagine that they are the best students around. Usually they are about average. c) in a public school you can get an idiot teacher once in a while, but most of the teachers are pretty good and all of them actually know the subjects they are teaching. Pretty often, the parents who are home schooling their children are in way over their heads by the time the kid is in middle school level. THe parents cant do anything but read the text and spout it to the kids. And that is a very poor substitute for having a person who has taken eight or ten courses in the subject.

I can understand elementary home schooling - the kids get individual attention, etc. but by middle school it is definitely time to join the real world.

Answer 4

Hi

Im homeschooled. I am now 12 but plan on going to reg. high school. All my friends are in reg. school.

From the students point of view

Its very flexible,..I like that we can go do things and work school around it

You can get your work done in MUCH less time than in reg. school and you have more free time

Never have homework! :)

You get hands on 1 to 1 time with parents teaching


Now some of the cons

Its easier to be lazy,....

More distrractions sometimes at home,..TV , puter,.. FOOD

Mom and dad as teachers can be less patient.. I dont know a teacher that would tell you to Shut up and sit down and get it done..

You can take school anywhere... it follows me on vacations and if I dont get work done during the week there it is... Sat and sunday

Sometimes too much quality time with the parents! ARGH

If you are in higher grades things like science labs are harder to do at home


Now . we began homeschool when I was 5 because I was far ahead of the other kids.. then we moved a lot so we kept doing it and I am a swimmer and we had to drive so far to a pool to practice so it just was the best for us
BUT
I have a lot of friends, and our local school will allow you to come in and take certain classes in school if you want ..
I think making sure the kds get time to do stuff away from parents and other homeschoolers is important.

Good Luck
Wis2006

My mom is Wismom out here

Answer 5

Pros: You set your own schedule, you can consentrate on what you want to, your friends tend to be more loyal, school work doesn't take as long since you are just teaching yourself, and you can sleep in! lol! Just to name a few.

Cons: Some people have a hard time with less of a social life, but I don't have a problem with that (not really a people person). I am a member of a co-op and get together with kids my age every Friday to bowl, eat lunch together, play some basketball (I don't play b-ball, but I enjoy watching!) and have an educational class. The lack of schedule sometimes bothers me, but that is just a personal preference and not exclusive to HS. I would schedule every minute of my day if possible.

I love being homeschooled, but it isn't for everyone. Congrats on asking for information!

Answer 6

There are alot of pros, and some cons. The biggest pro is that homeschooled children aren't influenced by all the crap (pardon my French) that goes on in regular school. The sex, drugs, violence, competing to be the most popular, ect. are pretty much eliminated if you're homeschooled which is great because kids shouldn't have to deal with things like that. Another pro is learning at your own pace. At a regular school you are "supposed" to be keeping up with everyone else and if you miss something, more often than not the teacher could care less. With homeschooling, you're allowed to learn at your own pace and learn what you want. You can look at different curriculums and decide which would best suit you instead of being thrown into a school and being expected to learn what they teach you. Homeschooling is also great because 8 hours of school a day is a waste of a day (well to me anyways). Why go to school for 8 hours when you can get the work done in 3 or 4? With homeschooling, you're allowed to do your work and spend the rest of the day (while others are at regular school still) doing things you want such as spending time with other homeschooled friends, traveling, doing more hands on things, ect. Also, with a regular school you have to call in and tell them if you're going to be missing a day and that day is marked as a "tardy" day. With homeschooling, if you want to just pack up and go on a trip or if there's a family emergency or something like that, you don't have to worry about school. You can take the work with you or do it when you get there and not have to worry about catching up on Monday or whenever. There really are no cons to homeschooling. There might be things that seem like cons, but you can really just turn those things into pros if you work on it.

Answer 7

control and responsiblity in that order

Fantastic insight and understanding into your child and how they think - control over what material they get - so if you hate power-rangers they won't get to meet them. Little peer pressure for the right trainers- you want to teach/avoid religion, you can do that too. They get lots of one on one teaching (even if you have more than one, it is still more than in a classroom) and a curriculum entirely tailored to their needs.

Responsibilily - not just for making sure they get a balanced curriculum, but fair exposure to their world - and responsibility to find them enough people to play with -friends as well as family and places where they can find out who they want to be outside the home. Help them find where they will go next - will it ever be back into a formal environment (university/big company) - if so, make sure they meet formal environments now - even occasionally.
Lots of places can help - depends which part of the world you are in. Many countries have groups where you can meet online and off - suggest you do a search for one in your local area.If you cna meet a local hs family, they would be able to answer lots of your questions more specifically. You would also need to check what the legislation is where you are before taking any decisions.
good luck

Answer 8

PROS:
1. Your child will generally get a better education.
2. Your child will be at home more, and will be easier to monitor.
3. You can instill YOUR values more and have less outside influence (liberal/conservative) type teachers.
4. Your child can advance grades faster and can even graduate at 15 as I did. (Thats if both you and the child apply yourselves)
5. In cases of slower learning children, it can avoid them being put in special education.
6. Your child will see you as the ultimate authority figure.

CONS:
1. You child may not develop the social skills the he/she could in public/private school
2. You child may at times feel abnormal.
3. If your child does poorly, it will be YOU who has to give the bad grade.
4. You will have ALOT of red tape that has to be filed.
5. If your child does poorly, you will blame yourself.

There are ways to avoid many of these cons, make sure your child has children his/her own age to socialize with. If you know other parents who homeschool, let your child visit a school day with them, and let their child visit a school day with you. Keep in mind that when you are teaching, you are not mom or dad, you are teacher, and principal. Try to keep your roles seperate, this is not entirely possible, but try your best. Make sure you keep your grades, tests and so on. You never know when the school board will call and inquire about somthing.

I teach both of my children at home. I have been to public school, private school, and home schooled. Public schools are the worst. Private schools and better, but home schooling is the BEST!

Answer 9

well...i used to be home schooled by my parents. it was one way to get to know your parents better...if you know what i mean, because they are teaching you things, but then, you knida start to resent the fact that they are the ones teaching you, as you are living in the same house, and theres no way of slacking at all (maybe that depends on how they are lol) but i didnt have ANY friends at that point, as i wasnt seeing any other children. but, it was definately at the point where i learnt most because you get all the attention, and if you need help, you wont be afraid as there is nobody to intimidate you. i honestly could not give you a yes or no to home schooling, as the good and the bad weigh just about the same. i hope that ive not just spouted a lot of rubbish and helped a little bit xx

Answer 10

It would help to know if you are considering this for yourself or for your child. Their are pros and cons for the parents as well as the child. Parents need to be very involved if they are going to home school their child.
check out www.nheri.org