In recent years, homeschooling has seen a surge in the number of parents choosing it over other options. For quite some time, public education has been the standard for education. Private school and homeschool have been considered alternative options, and online school is a newcomer to the educational front. Why the sudden trend toward homeschooling?
Here are just a couple of reasons why more parents are deciding to homeschool.
Escaping a Negative School Environment
Bullying has become an enormous problem in public schools. School violence is another issue. While most teachers and school administrators love their jobs and do the best they can with the tools they have, there are the outlying few who are more concerned with finances or test scores that make things difficult for their students.
Many parents choose to homeschool to extricate their child from that negative environment. Being bullied, worrying about school violence, or having a teacher that the student doesn’t feel comfortable with has an impact on education. It leads to students learning and retaining less, scoring lower on tests, and having an overall negative attitude toward learning and education.
Providing a Higher Quality Education
Crowded classrooms, fewer resources, and changes made in recent years have caused many parents to feel that the quality of public education has declined. They’ve come to the conclusion they can provide a better quality education at home.
The one-on-one attention they can provide is one reason for this belief. Another is the plethora of homeschool curriculum options available. Many offer online education with additional resources that allow parents to ensure that they give their children a full, well-rounded education that covers anything and everything they might have gotten in a public school and then some.
Individualized Education
Whether the child has ADHD, is on the autism spectrum, or has dyslexia, homeschooling allows for more freedom to work with the child’s needs. Even if there are no concerns, homeschooling allows for a more individualized education.
A child who has a great interest in photography or writing or landscaping can get an education that is geared toward fueling that interest and potentially creating a career out of it, which is not something that happens in most public school environments.
A More Cohesive Family Unit
With siblings spending most of the day together, and occasionally being the only available tutor or playmate, the family becomes closer and works together more smoothly. Instead of spending their days separated and trying to re-mesh at the end of the day, they instead mesh together all the time, creating bonds that might not otherwise exist.
Religion or Faith-based Education
For some families, religion is a central part of their lives, and they wish that priority to be extended to their children’s education as well. While some, if not all, religions offer a faith-based private school option, for many families, this is unaffordable. For those families or for those whose religion doesn’t offer a private school, homeschooling is an affordable option that lets them put their faith front and center in education.
Create more time for other things
After an entire day at school or work, the last thing most people want to do is come home and deal with homework. Many families find, at least in the elementary years, that they can complete an entire day’s worth of homeschooling in little more than the time it once took to do homework. When school is completed faster, there’s more time for other things, such as playing, reading for pleasure, activities with friends, or simply relaxing.
Homeschooling is a wonderful way to ensure that your children get a rich education. Whether it’s a negative school environment, family bonds, or a more tailored education that prompts your decision, most families don’t regret the decision to homeschool.
Do you homeschool your children? How have your experiences been switching? We would love to hear about it in the comments below.
Anica is a professional content and copywriter from San Francisco, California. She loves dogs, the ocean, and anything outdoor-related. She was raised in a big family, so she’s used to putting things to a vote. Also, cartwheels are her specialty. You can connect with Anica here.
I think homeschooling does have its good points. However, I wanted my kids to learn how to interact with other kids their age so we did not go the homeschooling route. I believe this way of social interaction will give kids lessons on how to handle certain situations outside the home.
I think homeschooling if both you AND your kids are disciplined to do it. I think I would get lazy about it! LOL!
I think the biggest reason in my area has been individualized training which many kids are not able to get a public school because they are overfilled. Its nice to read other reasons making parents home school
Kids being home schooled is a really great choice. Especially with how toxic kids can be in schools.
I do not blame them. Public schools are failing children.
Totally agree, we have supplemented with our little ones education along the way.
With larger classes sizes and more children that are learning english as a second language the teachers are spread a little thin.
I think homeschooling is great, as long as you make sure your kids get the social aspect elsewhere. When i was a kid, there were just too many homeschooled kids that didn’t get that and they were sooooo weird and they couldn’t talk to other people at all. I had cousins that turned out kind of messed up too because of it… But now days, there are so many other things parents can and will do to make sure they socialize, so it helps!
I can see why many families want to homeschool. There are certainly several advantages to homeschooling. At the same time, there are disadvantages to it too. Each family has to make their own decision.
I believe in doing what’s best for you. It’s nice to have options so you can adjust to your family life.
I don’t have children, but if I ever did I think I would seriously consider homeschooling, my school years weren’t kind to me and I think there are so many more places to allow interaction with others, groups and teams for instance and everyone learns differently, which schools do not take into consideration.
I admire families that can homeschool but it’s not for us. Our kids like to go to school and the structure of a school day. It would be so hard to homeschool for us, I think we would all get on each other’s nerves!
I have to admit that when I first heard that so many people were home schooling I thought it was a little weird. But I’ve had the chance to spend time with a neighbor who home schools and spend time with her kids. They are some of the brightest kids I’ve ever met. I definitely changed my tune and see the positive sides.
I have some friends who do homeschool, and they love it! It’s not for our family just because I A) need my quiet time and B) I am terrible at subjects like math and chemistry, so I’d be no help teaching it to my kids. They need the professionals!
Support for learning issues can vary from districts to schools to teachers. Sometimes the only way to ensure that your child will get the individualized education they need is by doing it yourself at home. I had to do this for my daughter and it was much better.
I am currently looking into homeschooling my son. He has been asking me to homeschool him but I am not sure if I can do it.
I decided to go the route of homeschooling for a better quality of education for my daughter. Unfortunately the public school system has gone downhill. She is the one that actually requested to try it. We are in our second year and she is very happy.
Growing up there were a few kids I knew that were homeschooled. Now, I know so many more families homeschooling for many reasons, aside from the ones you listed traveling, health, or just because. Every family is different and you have to do what’s best for yours.
We homeschool. My oldest daughter was 16 when I decided to pull my youngest daughter out of public school. She only had two years left, and she didn’t want to homeschool, so she stayed. This is our third year homeschooling, my youngest is in the 7th grade. We left for a multitude of reasons. I worked as a teachers aide at her elementary school, so I knew the ins and outs behind the scenes. We love it! She has learned more in these 3 years than she did the past 5 in school. It’s a great experience.
We have homeschooled for a total of 6 years … wow, that has gone by quick! We never intended to, but both of our kids were diagnosed by their neurologist with ADHD and a few other things and after battling it out with our school district over their IEPs it kind of made sense at the time for the interim, which turned into years! I think for some kids it is definitely the right choice.
My 4 grandsons are homeschooled and they are well rounded in all areas, plus they are very smart! My daughter is a former school teacher and I’m a former school administrator and I think homeschooling is awesome when it’s done correctly.