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The Pros and Cons of Homeschooling

The Pros of Homeschooling

The advantages of homeschooling include the following:

Control what your children learn , both when and how they learn (if this is not important why are governments etc so keen to have control of this aspect of education).

Spend time with the gifts God has given you (no one wishes they had spent less time with their children).

Custom design your teaching and curricula to fit in with your child's strong / weak areas, skills, interests and ability.

Protect your children from negative and bad influences in teaching, not excluding bullying (if this is not important why are so many schools trying to eradicate bullying, and please note bullying must first be present for it to be removed).

Prepare you children for the "Real World" seeing mum and dad earn a living and dealing with real world day to day issues, (schooling is not the real world, or rather it is a real awful world if things are not going well with your children).

Take long breaks, holidays and weekends and focus on education during these breaks.

Develop bonds with your children that is both biblical and sound without the "Tear Away" pressures and strain of schooling which often include peer pressure, unwanted behaviours, poor examples and inadequate teaching.

In an age where school standards are dropping globally homeschoolers are effortlessly exceeding the minimum standard.

Schools are attempting to fulfil its dictates of business producing "model workers", this sounds less like education and more like slavery to the workforce. Homeschooling successfully creates unique individuals helping fulfil their God given talents, potentials and expectations.

Homeschoolers are less aggressive (read more tolerant) to each other and to their peers and colleagues. Schools are inundated with attempts to reduce bullying, herding however their efforts are futile while they jam pack their classrooms with 25 students and one teacher.

Homeschooling parents at the very least, have the true interests of their children at heart willing to make financial sacrifices and spend large quantities of time nurturing and building their family.

Comment often made "don't you have to be a teacher to homeschool?" Of course not, we all know and understand that being able to find, learn and use the information is more important. No single person knows everything, especially not teachers who very often have come out of the schools they go straight back into bringing very little life experience with them but well versed and knowledgeable in the tacid requirements in the school system ie fit in, conform, "shut up and do what I say, here is the information, take it from me."

Everyone is a teacher. - I became a teacher when I had my first child, so did you, it is just the way it is.

You are going to hear the question "What about socialisation?" Let me tell you that mixing with 25 or more kids of the same age group for most of your school day is not socialisation but speaking with the baker, the policeman, the librarian, your tutor, a trainer, a teacher, a businessmen, a range of school age kids, grandparents, the aged and a host of other people in one day can better be described as socialisation. Not to mention riding bikes and horses, being in the outdoors, making things, socialisation does not begin and end in school, I assure you. It takes place on the internet, clubs, societies, groups, pretty much everywhere else except at school.

I am in the business of raising adults and not children and so should you be, homeschooling, if done correctly, will prepare your child for life, perhaps start a business, maybe earn money or fulfil their passions.

We are becoming a mono culture society, governments these days focus more on social engineering than they do on law and order issues. Yes of course we can just vote them out but unfortunately they make these changes stealthily, below the radar. Homeschoolers offer a breath of fresh air and uniqueness producing individuals. Do you have a clue about the changes taking place in schools, right under your nose?

If your student is struggling with an aspect of schooling you can more quickly pick up on this issue and it won't get swept under the carpet, you can send your child to extra lessons, you can continue with the subject until it is resolved or you can together agree "who needs that stuff anyway!" and move on to more interesting viable learning. In the school system they say too bad you have to stick with it until we move on with the dreaded curriculum which you had nothing to do with in the first place.

Homeschoolers know their kids are safe and are not being bullied, victimised, coerced and where homeschooling is being done correctly taking into account the God given freedom that children have which you need to preserve, treating them respectfully, lovingly, kindly and in accordance with God's laws and requirements. mmm ... I am not sure these can even be compared when schools are taking God out of the curriculum.

Child suicide is on the increase. Sure, this is being addressed in many ways by many organisations but unless we create a true healthy inclusive environment it is certainly not going to go away until children are treated fairly, respectfully and as individuals by everyone, that is to say other students and teachers. In an environment without shelter and protection children are left with no other alternative except to join up with the goths, the emus, the skinheads or perhaps the pink ladies or just a small group of a few friends, the problem is that they didn't necessarily have any choice here. As a broadminded, healthy homeschooler you can bring out the very best in your children or at the very least keep the worst away from them.

Schools and organisations are beginning to talk about "life long learning". Homeschoolers have been doing this from day one, parents need to examine and research topics they are teaching getting the newest and most up to date information, using current up to date techniques, this is good for everyone.

Homeschoolers are best suited to "flexi schooling" using the existing resources available ie. schools, mentors, teachers, trainers, the internet, online communities, everyday experiences, travel and workplace to encourage, teach and train. Homeschoolers contribute to the resources available in schools as much as any other person and should be entitled to use those facilities as much as any other person.

Very simply, homeschooling offers an opportunity to have some control over the curriculum taught, including the way it is delivered (how, when, why). Your children are safe from abuse, you know where your children are, whose caring for them and the motive in caring for them. You can create a culture of care, respect and nurture both academically, physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally. Families grow up all too quickly, this is an opportunity for Mum and Dad to reconstruct their lives around their children rather than around their employer, to focus on goals and interests. The family unit is an intricate, carefully orchestrated, designed God given construct which governments are clueless about, have no interest in and will never be able to nurture or understand.

The Cons of Homeschooling

Disadvantages of homeschooling include the following:

It is hard work and a big responsibility providing home education for you children, but that is also the secret and key to homeschooling, you are responsible for you children, and not any other person school or organisation. If you don't think this is important find out what God has to say about children and education.

Spend big money on the family, since the kids are with you all the time, you find yourself doing and buying things related to education.

Homeschooling may affect the family income, it will put full time employment out of the house.

It can be difficult, because each person is different and if dad falls ill or circumstances change it can put a great deal of pressure on the family but that is life! and we are in the business of teaching life skills.

It is easier to become shy as a homeschooler.  I know.

As a homeschooler you need to have a clear and concise understanding of who you are, why you homeschool, you may be required to present this argument to schoolers who are sometimes ill equipped to fully comprehend the validity of your argument or engage in open dialog, they might often use a number of weak points or "one upmanship" having lost the art of debate and sound reasoning skills during eleven years of traditional schooling.

Our society is geared towards dual income families, as a homeschooling family you often miss out on tax breaks and other incentives. You will be encouraged to go back to work, get a job or do something useful but you won't be encouraged, at least for the time being, to teach and train your children correctly, protect them or to enjoy them. (Women were promised liberty, freedom and equality but were given chains, society is only beginning to comprehend the weight of these chains).

Homeschooling is intense, time consuming and of course if you fail you only have yourself to blame.

You need to love your children to homeschool and if this is not "you" then sure, send your kids to school, they are probably better off there.

At the present time, in public schooling there is a turn against ability grouping, this means your child is segregated by age not ability - Mmm.. so if they are on either end of the ability spectrum, so sad .. too bad.

If we find ourselves in a position where it is difficult to homeschool because we lack knowledge, is this not a direct result of being part of the secular school system. The fact is that schools are not in the business of teaching you everything they know but rather they are fulfilling the goals of government making sure we know what they want us to know and no more.

Homeschooling is an immense responsibility and should not be taken lightly, carelessly or for the wrong motives. If you are a religious fanatic and do not love God and yourself you need to give home education a wide berth which this includes of course your own opinions which should also remain your own.

So there you have it, by no means is this list complete but it highlights very briefly some of the advantages and disadvantages of homeschooling.

Please add to this list of pro and cons of homeschooling by contacting me.

 

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More than one million children are Homeschooling in the United States and approximately 150,000 children are homeschooled in the United Kingdom, (about 50,000 families homeschool in England)

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