Advantages and disadvantages of homeschooling

Homeschooling, I believe, is one of the most important decisions we will make in our lives; therefore we must be, apart from well informed, fully aware of all that this method of teaching entails; including of course the pros and cons of homeschooling.

Here are eleven advantages and six disadvantages of homeschooling. It was not intentional to put more pros than cons; they are honestly what I consider the main ones.

Advantages of homeschooling

Tailor-made curriculum

One of the main advantages of homeschooling for me is that you can make the curriculum that best suits your child and the goals you initially set when you decided to educate without school.

From the academic issues you want to include, to the social skills you want to teach your children. Making your curriculum is very motivating because you choose what, how and when you will teach each of the topics you have chosen and you will do it taking into account your child’s learning style.

Learning is not limited to books; you can include whatever learning methods you want that are appropriate for your child and whatever teaching goals you have.

There is no such thing as school stress

Without school, of course, there will be no homework, no tests, and no activities that might cause stress for your child.

It has been proven that homework does not bring additional learning to that acquired in the classroom; on the contrary, it only causes stress to the students and they do it just to comply. That’s why in countries like Finland, which has one of the best education systems in the world, homework is no longer left behind.

No bullying

Your child, being homeschooled, will not have to experience violence or bullying.

Your child is less likely to be involved in violence, bullying, peer pressure or teasing, and all the other situations that can occur in a school.

Personalized education

As a homeschooler mom you will make sure that your child learns and not memorizes and so you have to spend several hours on a certain subject, your intention will always be that your child understands perfectly.

In schools there is only one teacher, to attend a very large number of students, that makes the attention given to each child is minimal and therefore learning does not become quality. In addition to the fact that many teachers have not adapted to the current needs of our society, and I say this with much respect, without generalizing, there are still good teachers; unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer of them.

The times established in schools limit the children, since not all can learn in that time frame and the teacher has to fulfill his or her agenda, so many times he or she cannot stop to clarify all the doubts of his or her students.

One of the best slogans of a home schooler for me would be: “the school system wants you to pass, I want you to learn”.

You educate in a fun way

This is one of the advantages of homeschooling that I like the most because you can teach in a fun way; therefore apathy in children and young people disappears; because let’s be realistic in schools you find more and more apathetic, indifferent, tired and bored students and we owe this to the school system; but it doesn’t have to be like that, who says it can’t be the opposite and the best thing of all is that it is possible.

You create strong bonds with your child

What better gift as a mom than to be able to be a part of your child’s education; believe me, it’s amazing to be able to be with my daughter; to be her mom, her friend, her confidant, her guide and also her teacher. That creates strong, unbreakable bonds.

You will get to know your child perfectly and you will always have the great satisfaction of having formed a great human being.

You will be present at all stages of your child’s life and will guide him or her to be a successful and happy person.

Flexible Schedules

I don’t usually wake my daughter up, I always let her do it naturally and I can’t imagine having to get her up super early to get her ready for school.

From a very young age children have to be in a situation of having the time measured; and facing the “rush”, which then triggers stress.

One of the pros of education without school, is that this does not exist and although if you must have schedules, especially for organizational reasons, you do not have to have a schedule of 8 am to 2 pm, you set the times that best fit your plan of activities.

This is a great advantage because your child will always be rested, so he or she will have energy and the whole attitude to learn.

He can eat when he’s hungry, stand up when he wants, never have to ask permission to go to the bathroom, and never have to adopt any of those rules that don’t make for a great kid.

Your child can spend as many hours as he wants on those subjects that really interest him; as well as spending as much time as necessary on those subjects that are difficult for him.