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Many students thrive in a traditional school environment. However, for some students and their families, homeschooling is a better fit.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the lines between homeschooling and traditional schooling have blurred. With parents now more responsible for educating their children at home, many choose to take the full jump into home education. According to a report from the BBC, home education numbers rose by 75% during the 2020-2021 school year. More than 40,000 students in the UK were formally taken out of school between September 2020 and April 2021, compared with an average of 23,000 over the previous two years.
There are various reasons a parent would choose to homeschool their child. Sometimes, it’s ideological differences with the traditional schooling system, and parents wish their children to be educated in an environment that best reflects their family’s culture, views, or religion.
Homeschooling also is the ideal choice for families who practice a nomadic lifestyle, or who otherwise opt-out of many societal norms. Sometimes, it’s not about the school at all, and attending a traditional school isn’t the right fit for a child due to medical or behavioural issues. In fact, for many parents surveyed by the BBC, concerns about their child’s medical conditions or special needs were the main reason they opted for home education in the face of COVID-19.
Homeschooling is an appealing option for many families. What are the biggest advantages of homeschooling, though? We’re here to fill you in.
What are 5 benefits of homeschooling?
Many parents wonder what are the benefits of homeschooling versus school. Here are some of the key advantages of homeschooling.
1. Homeschooling offers freedom and flexibility
When homeschooling your child, you create the schedule. You don’t have to wait for scheduled term breaks to go on holiday or visit family. Instead, you can travel when it works best for your family’s schedule (and budget!).
Homeschooling also allows your child to be educated from anywhere in the world. If your pre-parenthood life involved a great deal of travel, homeschooling makes it possible to continue that lifestyle with your children in tow.
Even if you don’t intend on jet-setting, homeschooling provides a great deal of flexibility in your day-to-day life. For children who require frequent doctor’s visits, for example, homeschooling can allow them to receive a full education without missing school.
2. Homeschooling allows for individualised lessons
If your child is the only student (or only sharing the classroom with their siblings), it gives them the opportunity to learn in a way that is truly tailored to them.
A well-rounded education is important, but homeschooling allows a child to spend more time focused on the subjects they enjoy. Likewise, homeschooling means a student can spend more time studying a subject or concept they find especially difficult. This is especially beneficial for neurodivergent children living with disorders like ADHD or ASD. With homeschooling, neurodivergent students can learn in a way that is customised to work best for their minds.
3. Homeschooling allows parents to have more control over their child’s education
Many parents choose to homeschool their children to ensure their education is more aligned with their family’s values. A homeschooled child has less exposure to outside influences, which is appealing to parents who have any counter-cultural ideologies.
Even for parents who adhere to most societal norms, homeschooling can allow them to share grown-up topics with their children on their own timeline. If you homeschool your children, you don’t have to worry about them coming home to ask any age-inappropriate questions because of something their classmate told them.
It’s never possible, of course, to shield a child from all the realities of the world, but homeschooling does give parents a great deal more control over how and when children are exposed to things.
4. Homeschooling provides a more consistent education
In a traditional school, students have a new teacher every year. Though all teachers may be competent and skilled, they inevitably have different personalities and teaching styles. Because of this, your child may not thrive in every classroom.
With homeschooling, students have more consistency. Whether they are learning from Mum or a personal tutor, a homeschooled child often learns from the same person in the same way for their entire schooling. This consistency can lead to better learning outcomes and a more enjoyable time at school for the child.
5. Homeschooling can help families become closer
Educating your child at home means you’ll be spending more time together. Though all parents teach their children in many ways, a parent homeschooling their child will get to know them in a whole new context.
Teaching your own child is not without its challenges, but it can help you grow closer. When children learn at home, they also spend more time with their siblings. Siblings learning together at home have the opportunity to teach each other things the way they wouldn’t in traditional schooling. Homeschooling also encourages siblings to socialise with one another more, too, creating closer relationships. Spending so much time together as a family is bound to be stressful at times, but homeschooling can also bring families closer together.
Homeschooling is the right fit for many families
As you can see, there are many reasons homeschooling can be the right choice for your family. If you’re looking to deepen family bonds, have more control over your time, and provide an individualised education for your children, homeschooling can be the right choice.
However, just because you’re teaching your child at home, doesn’t mean you have to do it all! GoStudent’s world-class tutors can help you supplement your own at-home curriculum and give your child the best education possible. Sign up for your free trial lesson today and see why we’re the #1 Rated Global School.
