what are the disadvantages of homeschooling?

Answer 1

1) People who are prejudiced against it and their comments.
2) Usually can only have one parent working; this reduces the totaly income of the family and may mean giving up certain luxuries.

Those are the only actual potential general disadvantages I can think of. Other than that, it'll depend on the person. Some people have a hard time being around their kids that much. Some people find it difficult to commit themselves enough to make it a good thing for their kids.

All-in-all, homeschooling advantages outweigh the disadvantages for the committed family.

ADDED: I wish people who actually knew something about homeschooling would talk about the disadvantages instead of ignorance being spread!

To set the facts straight:

*Homeschooling does NOT mean staying at home all the time. The homeschoolers I know all have outside activities they regularly participate in. A number complain that they are too busy outside the house.

*The idea that homeschoolers don't learn to work with others is ridiculous. Maybe some don't, just like some public schooled kids don't, but homeschoolers do things with other people. There are classes and groups and just working with your family/siblings is part of working together. And the idea that homeschoolers don't communicate with others is beyond ludicrous.

*Older children can still participate in things like sports, drama, band, field trips, etc. There are community sports and sometimes homeschooled students are allowed to participate in school sports. There are drama classes and clubs run by private organizations as well as homeschool groups. We have more than one homeschool band here not to mention orchestras for students (regardless of where they go to school); I've heard of other places having the same. Field trips--they abound when you are connected with a homeschool group of some sort.

As recommended in Legally Blonde, "I suggest knowing before speaking."

Answer 2

I haven't really found any for our family.

My kids are taught partly by me for basic skills, and take many classes at our co-op, library, community rec centers, community etc.; so they're getting quite a varied education.

They are being taught in ways that mesh with their learning styles and interests, and while they all have certain activities or subjects they don't like, they've become quite self-motiviated and disciplined learners.

They get to spend a couple of hours on most days practicing and learning basic skills quietly and without distraction, then get to go for their classes, play dates w/friends, volunteer work, clubs, or just free play time at the park or pool for a few hours.

I guess the biggest disadvantage I have found is that there are people who make automatic assumptions about you or your kids, or who feel compelled to challenge our choice to homeschool, or people who expect you to be perfect and as soon as they discover you're not seek to somehow blame it on homeschooling. Apparently you're allowed to be imperfect when you public school, not when you homeschool it seems. So those are the disadvantages for me-- how some people act. Funny thing is these people usually have little to no experience with homeschooling.

Answer 3

Some of the disadvantages are also the benefits. I used to feel uneasy because I could no longer compare every detail of my child's work with others in the class. That is also a benefit because each child should be judged as an individual and set their own goals. We moved to an area where the homeschoolers are not very numerous and are not organized so it is harder to get my children involved with others; at our previous home we belonged to 2 homeschooling groups and were always busy with all sorts of events. So we do have limited contact with other kids now and that bothers me, but I do see public school kids the same age who are into drugs and promiscuity and think less contact is probably good. I homeschool two and enjoy it except they are getting sick of looking at each other and bicker now and then. (But not as much as my public school children bickered) So maybe it's difficult to blame homeschooling on all the percieved negative behaviours of children. I have had kids in public school who were lonely-just because you are in a crowd doesn't mean that you are socialized. In fact, increasing population densities actually makes people less social. Farm and small town people usually know and care about their neighbours. Can you say the same for city dwellers?

Answer 4

Contrary to the assertions of the uninformed commentary posted here, one significant "disadvantage" for my family has been transportation arrangements for all of the group and social activities my kids are involved in. Which, oh by the way, tend to be about 5x the public school norm! As for activites like sports and plays: three of my daughters are currently in rehearsal for a production of Bye Bye Birdie, and a fourth daughter will be running the lighting board for it. Rather than a 4 night, cheesy high school production, this is a 5 week run with a variable age cast, professional directors, costumers, lighting desingers, and so forth. My homeschool kids' drama "education" will wrap rings around any high school.

Before one can answer a question about advantages or disadvantages, it is necessary to determine what the goals or objectives are; then it is necessary to evaluate the options. It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish, what your priorities are, and what resources you have. What is a disadvantage to one might be an advantage to another.

For example, one often cited disadvantage is that one parent, usually Mom, has to stay home and can't be in the work force, causing the family to lose that income stream. But many families have used the fact that Mom and the children are at home to create family businesses that involve their children; recreating the income stream and providing a real world educational opportunity for their children. Now having Mom home is an advantage.

The only "disadvantage" that really exists in home schooling a child is the one that comes from taking responsibility to actually do the work rather than delegating it to someone else. The responsibility is yours one way or another, whether you put your child in public school, charter school, private school, or homeschool. The questions you should be asking, and that we can't answer here are: 1. What do I need/want for my child's education? 2. What are the resources I have to accomplish these goals? 3. Which course is likely to produce the best outcome? 4. Am I willing to pay the price associated with the choice? When you frame the questions in this way, you can determine what the relative advantages and disadvantages are for you, in your particular situation.

For my family, the local public schools don't do very well at basic education, there are "social" problems with gangs and bullying, and so on. Given the option of sending my kids into a questionable environment, then having to augment what they got at school at home (many families in my area do this), or just homeschooling, it was a no brainer. Especially since my wife was home any way.

Answer 5

Okay, I'm just going to jump on the wagon here.
The biggest drawback to the whole Homeschool circle is the people and groups who suffer from FIMS (foot in mouth syndrome) and trust me there are alot of them out there. I dare say that even the School Board tends to suffer from it.

If you are willing to take the time and research what you will teach, review materials used before giving them to students and admit when you are not sure of something but promise to discover the answers, then you will do fine.
As to the lack of social opps, there is only a lack of them if you allow there to be. I solved part of our problem by CREATING a new homeschool group. We had 1 group in our area and even they were giving out bad info, not to mention tagging kids with problems they didn't really have.

So to sum it all up: People and groups who suffer from FIMS and the parents who are lazy (they are the ones who give homeschooling a bad name).
Other than that, there are no disadvantages, because a GOOD Mom/Teacher knows how to use everyday things and everyday situations to teach (that goes for the dads and grandparent educators too).

Answer 6

There really aren't any. It's just like anything else in life pros/cons on both sides of the fence and it's all in perspective.

If you consider a little more work to fill in social activites a disadvantage or living on a fixed income a disadvantage those are two.

That and having to deal with ignorant people who make assumptions.

Answer 7

I have been homeschooling my kids all their lives and I've only found two disadvantages:

1) People who are ignorant of homeschooling scrutinize your kids closely, looking for anything that fits their preconceived notion of what homeschoolers are like.
2) Total strangers often think its their job to quiz your kids, often on subjects that are trivia, or far above their grade level. (Its even worse for my son because he is very tall for his age, so people think he is older and therefore should know more.) I have had people ask my kindergartner multiplication facts (most curriculums don't introduce that until second grade at the earliest), and I've had people ask my oldest (who at the time was in 2nd grade) what she thought of the political situation in the Sudan.
Regardless of whether people think poorly of homeschoolers and expect your kids to know nothing, or have heard wonderful things about it and expect to meet little geniuses, it can be difficult to deal with the stereotypes. I've learned to ignore it for the most part, and usually stop the quizzes by telling people, "I am sorry, but we are on our free time right now, they've finished their schoolwork for today."

Answer 8

Well, it can get expensive. It takes or consumes a lot of time. You have to put into it just like you do with meals and cleaning house. That means field trips, work at the library, reviewing their papers, supervising, helping them discover thing such as shows on PBS, History, Science. Putting them into things like bowling league, soccer leagues, softball, little league.

This can help be another disadvantage, your kids seeing the same 4 wall every day.

Answer 9

The only real disadvantage is that someone must spend the time teaching the child. If both parents must work, this puts a real bind on home life.

Answer 10

6 reasons

1. People who have never been home schooled and judge it so negatively
2. You have to be very disciplined
3. It IS easy to screw up your kids if you mess up
4. You will need to get them involved in home schooling groups so they can learn to socialize (a lot of people seem to think it doesn't matter to us, but we realize the need for social skills despite their beliefs).
5. The curriculum can get expensive if you don't take the time to shop around for it
6. You need to start ASAP to get your kids motivated and wanting to learn

Don't let people say you can't do it because you don't have a certain learning degree, they have teachers handbooks and guides. The more you teach the student, the more you learn yourself.