Table of Contents
- Top Reasons Why Parents Should Homeschool their Children
- Make Changes from a Traditional School Setting
- Higher Quality Instruction
- Makes Learning Closer to Family
- Encourages the Unique Interests and Passions of Learners
- Enhances Social Interaction of Your Children
- Enables Parents to Grow
- Supports Disabled Children
- Strengthens Family Values
- You Can Study the Way Your Children Do
- Conclusion
- Resources and References
Top Reasons Why Parents Should Homeschool their Children
The current public education system has some shortcomings which all informed parents should be aware of. Parents can use a list of these shortcomings to defend the homeschooling of their learners. According to education researchers and the United States government, the number of homeschooled students has increased in the last few years.
So, why do parents opt to homeschool their teens?
After exploring many surveys, High School of America has compiled top reasons why parents should consider homeschooling their teenagers;
Make Changes from a Traditional School Setting
According to the National Household Education Survey (NHES), which is undertaken after every four years by the United States Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the major reason why parents opt to homeschool learners is the negative setting of the public school of their teens. More than 26% stated an undesirable environment as the main reason, while more than 90% cited it as one of the reasons for shifting to homeschooling.
Some of the environmental factors that parents are concern with include bullying in public schools. It is challenging for parents to notice whether their child is bullied at a public school or online by colleagues. Instances where learners tease, use hurtful or abusive language, inflict physical harm, steal money or food from others usually go unreported by learners or dismissed by educators. Bullying becomes more severe as students get older, usually magnified by increasing peer pressure in learning institutions. Bullying may result in lower self-esteem and grades, depression, as well as poor sleeping habits.
Obviously, parents have concerns with regard to things that affect the welfare of their learners in school, like school violence. Although many forms of school violence have been declining over the years, there has been an upsurge in assault and theft.
Homeschooling becomes the best solution for most of these learners and their families since it eliminates the physical and psychological torment associated with bullying. Also, homeschooling gets rid of the fear that results from issues that learners face in schools, like bullying.
Parents who decide to homeschool their learners due to bullying usually report noteworthy learning improvement and greater happiness. Also, concerns regarding socialization in homeschool are reduced since parents can remove bullies from the lives of their children and design a new social experience for the learners. Additionally, parents can control the positive relations that their learners already have.
Higher Quality Instruction
With the execution of Common Core in most states, increased learner registration, and decreasing state education budgets, most parents have a belief that there is a decline in education quality in public learning institutions. According to the NHES survey, learning dissatisfaction is the other reason why parents opt to homeschool students.
Through homeschooling, parents have an opportunity of controlling the learning of their children. Also, homeschooling parents believe that the traditional school curriculum does not provide the correct skills and knowledge for the learners.
With fewer resources and crowded classrooms, it’s more challenging for instructors to offer face-to-face education to learners. Nevertheless, homeschooling enables parents to utilize a curriculum that is approved by the state and offer tailored instruction which not present in the current public schools. Also, parents can complement the education of their teens with extra lessons. They may take much time or little time in every subject to make sure that students are learning these materials and be confident that they have grasped the contents.
Makes Learning Closer to Family
When cultivating in an environment of creativity, curiosity, engagement, and trust in your home school, your learners are less expected to be angry or rebellious as heard most of the time. The angry rebellion of learners is normally the outcome of a repressive system of education that eliminates curiosity and thought, leaving learners powerless and frustrated. Most parents who homeschool their students state that their children grow to be responsible and independent adults. Consequently, their families enjoy supportive, loving, and close supportive relations.
Encourages the Unique Interests and Passions of Learners
Learners have vibrant and unique personalities, and they usually have a particular subject or area which truly motivate and interest them. Your learner might be interested in comic books and video games instead of the core curriculum. Nevertheless, homeschool provides parents with the freedom to inspire their passions and utilize them to teach many other subjects. Acknowledging and encouraging the individual strengths of learners enables them to study and grow very well.
Enhances Social Interaction of Your Children
The other primary reason why parents opt to homeschool their learners is that they do not want exposure to peer pressure in public schools, and they want a personalized social interaction that supports their values.
Parents who homeschool can ensure this by taking the school curriculum and turning the world that surrounds them into a classroom. Whereas many public learning institution learners take a lot of time in classes listening to their instructors, homeschool learners have a lot of activities that occur outside their homes.
Since the homeschool curriculum is flexible, families can go to historical sites, parks, and museums and take part in community services as part of their day-to-day learning.
The effect of homeschooling in this way usually enhances their psychological and emotional development in learners. Also, it strengthens family relationships are learners homeschool with their brothers and sisters. What’s more, learners gain a lot of awareness regarding the world that surrounds them and may develop a stronger sense of civic duty.
Enables Parents to Grow
Homeschooling teaches you the way it does to children. You will be surprised at what you are able to accomplish when you begin coaching your teens. Also, you will be taking your children through subjects such as trigonometry and algebra, when at some instances you could not have thought you could perhaps teach such subjects. As parents push themselves to other levels, you will not only assist your children in studying new courses, but you will be educating by example that they whatever they desire.
Supports Disabled Children
Usually, students with physical handicaps or learning disabilities do not prosper in traditional schools. With inadequate time and limited resources, it is challenging for most of these students to get the specific instructions they require in order to learn. Parents can employ specialized curriculums for learners with special needs. This enables parents to equip their learners with the education they require.
Additionally, homeschooling enables learners to have access to all public-school services that are provided. For instance, services for physical handicaps, dyslexia, speech therapy, music, art, and remedial classes offered. This provides parents with greater flexibility to ensure that your learner gets the best education.
Strengthens Family Values
Possibly, the most crucial reason for parents to homeschool is understanding that their learners receive an education that is in line with the values and ideals of their families. This is not possible in brick-and-mortar classrooms, which are filled with over 20 learners, each with a different value. Additionally, it enables parents to reinforce what they believe requires to be reinforced, as well as how it ought to be reinforced. This implies that there is a high level of freedom and accountability. Ultimately, it enhances the quality of education.
You Can Study the Way Your Children Do
The best way of learning is through teaching, and certainly, homeschooling support this. Many parents have gaps from their time in school; particularly, it has been a lot of time since they studied a subject. Homeschooling is the best way of exploring that subjected together with their learners. Instead of the usual remote learning method, homeschooling offers parents an opportunity to learn more about the subjects, discuss their most exciting aspects, and discover the practical benefits of those subjects. Notably, this mode of learning is effective as compared to regurgitating and memorizing formulas and dates.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that homeschooling has become the mainstream learning choice for United States families that want the best education for their learners.
Although there are common reasons as to why parents opt to homeschool their teenagers, at High School of America, we know that the decision of a parent to homeschool might depend on numerous factors.
As an online high school, High School of America has been homeschooling learners for many years. We are sensitive to the goals of every parent for the education of their child. This is because we have a team of educational professions as well as a strong group of parents who are there to offer assistance and assist you in personalizing your homeschool learning experience.
In case you have any issue regarding how to make the change to homeschooling your learners, please contact our team.