Introduction
Recently, most parents have been faced with the question on whether to homeschool their children or to send them to public schools. In my view homeschooling is the best educational option a parent could take. Therefore the purpose of this essay is to persuade all who are faced with the choice of either homeschooling or sending children to public schools that homeschooling is the best thing to do.
Jamie, in his article, Homeschooling 101; What is Homeschooling? says that homeschooling is a progressive movement both in the US and around the world in which parents opt to teach their children at home rather than taking them to the traditional public schools or private schools. Parents opt this option for different reasons. Homeschooling actually began in the 1970s. According to most researches, homeschooling is now prominent and more than two million children in the US are homeschooled. In addition, this number has kept increasing with a very large percentage since the year 1999. Countries like Indonesia for example. Are so big on homeschooling with more than two thousand families homeschooling their children.
Why should parents homeschool their children rather than send them to public schools?
There are many reasons why homeschooling is much better than the regular public school education. This is the reason why most doctors and lawyers choose to homeschool their children rather than send them to the mainstream public schools for education.
Socialization
Homeschooling offers parents a chance to positively socialize their children and help them to interact meaningfully with people of different ages. Parents are able to teach their children the right things that they want to about socialization.
One thing to note is that there has been a misconception that children can only learn to socialize in regular schools and not at home. However, this is not true. Greg, in his article 5 Reasons People Give for not Homeschooling their Kids assumes Merriam Webster’s definition of socialization; that socialization is to teach a person to behave in a manner that is acceptable in the society. Now with this in mind, consider what happens in public schools, both before and in high schools; children learn to bully their fellow schoolmates, chew tobacco and smoke weed, take part in orgies for both sexes, cheat on tests among many other unacceptable behaviors. Therefore, it is not true to say that children will learn to be socialized in public schools. Homeschooling offers a better chance of children being socialized in the right way.
Again, the idea that children who are homeschooled do not get to interact with other children is not true. In fact, these days homeschooling is much better as children from different families could learn together.
The idea that socialization for children can only be gained from public schools is a myth. Homeschooling actually provides a more controlled environment for socializing kids. Children can learn church stuff and other related activities. Homeschooling and charter schools are much cheaper and more convenient. Children can also have sport teams and learn from the other members of the family.
Furthermore, children tend to be influenced and learn more from people that they look up to such as their dad and mom than any other person. However, for this to happen, the parents need to take steps toward socializing their children through homeschooling.
Academic Quality
It is the wish for most parents for their children to get a better education then they themselves had. Home schooling offers children a chance of getting a more quality education than learning in public schools. In learning at home, parents are able to set higher standards for their children than what happens in public schools. Parents are also able to select much better quality curriculums for their children. Additionally, homeschooling give parents and children a chance to be more flexible in that parents and their children can move in a much faster pace in the subjects in which the children do very well.
On the other hand, all these cannot be compared to learning in a public school; teacher are forced to the individual educational needs of the children with the wide range of abilities present. This means that if a child is able to learn very fast than the rest of the children, he or she would be slowed down to move at the pace of the other children. Moreover, if the child is a slow learner, and cannot keep up with the learning speed of the rest of the children, it means that he or she would be left behind or forced to move forward without understanding anything.
Safety
Another reason why parents should seek to homeschool their children is to ensure the safety of their children. In the event of tragedies such as school bombing, the safer place for children would be at home rather than in public schools. Again, when talking of safety, what more parents have in mind are other issues such as drug abuse, bullying and negative attitudes or influences.
In considering the home environment verses the public school environment, the home environment can be said to be calm and safer. I agree with the proponents of homeschooling that the safest and most secure place in which a child can learn is at home. While at home, children do not have to deal with a lot of issues such as peer pressure and the need to fit in and be like the rest of the children. At home children can just ‘be’. This in turn helps the children to concentrate on the ideas being taught and follow up on the expectations of the learning process rather than be diverted to other issues that deter learning.
In other words, why parents should opt homeschooling rather than send their children to public schools is because while learning at home, children do not have to think of whether what they are wearing is what is trending or whether they have the latest video games as there are no other children around to compare with them. Thus, through homeschooling, children are able to learn in peaceful and calm environments. In addition, at home, children are also able to learn in their own style moving at their own pace. This is what some people might consider success.
Travel
Another reason why homeschooling is the way to go is because it is more convenient for parents to travel with their children. According to Jennifer, in her article Public School vs. Homeschool, What are the Differences?, reading about things say for example art or looking at them on the internet is quite different than interacting with them in person. As parents travel to other different places and countries, they are able to go with their children and show them what they have been learning. The flexibility of homeschooling makes these opportunities of going abroad with children more accessible.
Religious beliefs
For parents who want to include learning of a religion in a child’s learning, homeschooling might be the best way to do it. Parents can include Bible Study and time for prayer into their children’s curriculum. Again for these religious families, the parents can be able to shoe their children the different facts of say history, science or mathematics in the light of religion.
Family Togetherness
According to Idalia, probably homeschooling might be the best way to ensure togetherness of a family, that is, between the parents and the children. As children learn together with their parent, they are able to spend more time together. For parents, this can also be a chance for them to input the value they admire into their children. Learning at home can also provide an opportunity for parents and their children to work on non-academic stuff such as building their character and learning how to do house chores.
Still for parents who enjoy watching their children’s success for example as a child learn how to read or do something new, homeschooling might be the best chance for it. Moreover, the older sibling might enjoy a lot to tech their younger siblings something that they have already mastered.
Mastery versus Grades
Homeschooling allows the children who are learning to master the content that they are learning rather than to just cram it and dump it in the exam. For most public school, the earning I usually exam oriented. Students are fixated on the grades the y so as to move to the next level. However for homeschooling, the learning is not just for the grades but the learning process itself is meaningful to the children.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would urge all parents to consider homeschooling rather than sending their children to public schools. Homeschooling is gradually becoming more prominent and the way to go in terms of children’s learning and education.
In summary, homeschooling has more advantages as a way of educating children and this is why it should be considered. Rather than sending children to public schools home schooling provides a calm and safer environment for children to learn. Children are also able to learn to interact more meaningfully from their parents. In addition, parents can cater for the educational needs of their children in a customized manner through homeschooling rather than sending their children to public schools.
Works Cited
Courtney, Jennifer. “Public School vs. Homeschool, What Are the Differences?” Public School Homeschooling. Classical Conversations, 2015. Web. 20 Nov. 2015. <https://www.classicalconversations.com/public-school-vs-homeschooling.htm>.
Martin, Jamie. “Homeschooling 101: What Is Homeschooling?” Parents Magazine. Web. 20 Nov. 2015. <http://www.parents.com/kids/education/home-schooling/what-is-homeschooling/>.
“5 Reasons People Give for Not Homeschooling Their Kids.” Greg Trimble. 16 Feb. 2014. Web. 20 Nov. 2015. <http://www.gregtrimble.com/reasons-people-give-for-not-homeschooling-their-kids/>.
Yambo, Idalia. “Teaching Reading in Homeschool.” (2002).
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