Home School: The Advantages And Disadvantages

Some parents prefer to have their children home schooled, that is, they don’t want them going to school with other children their age, as most kids do. They would prefer to have their children stay home so that they can educate them themselves. They do this so that they can be absolutely certain what their kids are exposed to, such as certain lessons they deem appropriate, while omitting those they deem inappropriate. Many parents also home school their kids because they don’t want them exposed to the dangers that other kids are exposed to at regular schools, such as peer pressure from drugs and alcohol.

The Advantages

When parents home school their children, they know exactly what’s going into their minds. They can tailor the lessons strictly for their children. Plus, they can give their children their undivided attention. This can’t be done in a normal classroom, where a teacher may have thirty or more students. Also, their kids won’t get into trouble, as often happens when they get around other kids their age. They won’t be exposed to drugs, alcohol, or any bad seeds that can corrupt their child’s naïve and innocent mind.

While this may sound great to some, other parents disagree with home schooling and claim that these parents are doing their children a huge disservice. By examining some disadvantages of home schooling children, it is obvious why more kids go to school than don’t.

The Disadvantages

 The main disadvantage of home schooling children is that they aren’t preparing for the real world. For example, when a child gets up in the morning to get ready for school, they are, in essence, preparing for that day when they’ll have to do the same thing to go to work. Home schooling doesn’t force them to leave the house. They can get schooled in their PJ’s, in the comfort of home and this can create motivational problems later on, as the grown up kids won’t want to go to work when they can just stay home as they’ve always done.

Another major disadvantage is that some home schooled kids never learn to develop positive peer relationships. Going to school forces the kids to interact with each other, which is very important for healthy development. Sure, children may be exposed to other dangers, such as peer pressure and the like, but it’s up to the parents to teach the children to say no when faced with this pressure. Taking the children out of the element completely will do little good. Peer pressure is everywhere, not just at school, and they can be exposed to it anywhere they go. So, keep your kids in school and prepare them to be healthy, well developed adults when they finally enter the real world.