Homeschooling is a progressive approach to education in which parents choose to educate their children at home instead of sending them to a conventional school. Homeschooling is also known as personalized learning as teaching is conducted by a parent or home tutor, and the kids learn at a time, pace and style of their choosing.
Homeschooling is not a modern-day phenomenon. Wealthy families of yesteryears educated their children at home. The village one-room schools, a precursor to modern educational institutions, were also established by families that joined hands to hire the services of a teacher.
However, homeschooling has gone main-stream in the recent past. The number of children who are homeschooled has more than doubled between 1999 and today. As per estimates, the home-schooling universe is larger than the New York City public school system.
Many parents have begun adopting the trend of “unschooling” – which is also known as “utonomous, child-led or delight-directed learning” is a kind of education that allows the child to take the reins and “learn through living”. While this unstructured learning might cause a child to drift in the hands of an inexperienced or lax hand, it benefits of having a hands on parent as an educator at home will spark the student’s interest in learning.
Benefits of Homeschooling
Homeschooling is very responsive to a child’s situation and needs. Homeschooling is flexible as it encourages the homeschoolers to study at home, community colleges and via field trips and online resources. Homeschooling is open-ended as homeschoolers have access to a world of subjects, ranging from social and physical sciences to computer studies such as CSM course, without being hindered by the limitations of formal curricula. Homeschooling is self-paced as homeschoolers make progress in their learning experience in accordance with their personal interest and aptitude, without experiencing the pressure of peer group and social expectations.
Myths about Homeschooling
The most prevalent misconception about homeschoolers is that they lack in social skills – this perception was probably true in the pre-internet era but does not hold water any longer. The homeschoolers today are as socially savvy as their counterparts in private and public schools, thanks to the widespread use of Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and other social media platforms. There is another myth that homeschoolers are cocooned in their houses and disconnected from the actual world. This can’t be further from the truth either. Contrary to what the word ‘Homeschooling’ denotes, homeschoolers spend a considerable amount of time in libraries, museums, and community colleges, and very little homeschooling actually takes place at home.
Future of Home Schooling
Homeschooling is part of a broader movement in which people are taking control over their personal and social lives, without leaving things to external agencies such as governments and bureaucracies. Homeschooling is gaining in popularity as it allows the children to study in the comfort of their personal spaces, unencumbered by the baggage of institutional education. Moreover, the homeschoolers actually turn out better than the regular ones, as evidenced by their performance in competitive examinations. The icing on the cake is that these children have the option of joining the educational mainstream for higher, professional education at a later day. Homeschooling may not be for everyone. Parents may not be equipped to be educators or could be impeded by factors such as failing health and shaky finances. Homeschooling may be overwhelming at first but can be a truly fulfilling, rewarding and cherishable experience both for the parent and child alike in the long run.
The pitfalls of Home Schooling
However, parents and authorities should be wary regarding the education of any child. If the parent is not performing up to par, it could greatly diminish a child’s future and hamper the opportunity to find a fulfilling career.
Kidal Delonix is a contributor to Mr. Hoffman's blog. The views and opinions are entirely his/her own and may not reflect Mr Hoffman's views.
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