Homeschooling? OK, is this a cliché from the past?
Recently I have gathered information about homeschooling; I read about it, I asked questions in forums and more.
Do I consider myself an expert? Not at all!
Do I agree with the homeschooling concept? No, except in certain situations where the child must be kept home for health reasons or other special circumstances.
Do I have an opinion? Absolutely yes and below are some of the reasons why I believe that children should attend a school rather than be homeschooled.
However, feedback is welcome so if you have a different opinion, don’t hesitate to bring it up.
1. The socializing aspect
Children need to be around other children and slowly build their independence and survival capabilities.
I know that homeschooled children have a lot of activities outside of their homes.
I know parents give them the possibility to interact with their friends and socialize.
The problem is that the kind of social skills you develop in a classroom are impossible to find in any other type of environment.
Let’s start with the discipline. In front of a parent the child will always feel safe and possibly comfortable to argue. In front of a teacher, most of the smaller age children don’t have the courage to do whatever they want. There is a fear that if they don’t behave, there will be consequences.
Yes, in some schools there is chaos and some teachers can’t control their classrooms well. Yes, there are places where children might not learn as fast as they would at home.
However, I think that when children go to public school, they do learn how to integrate themselves better in a society, how to deal on their own with the problems which arise throughout their life. At home, we teach them what’s right and what’s wrong but if they are mainly at home they will not be exposed to the “wrong” and learn how to deal with it.
Unfortunately the “wrong” is out there and they will need to deal with it, sooner or later.
2. Bullying is a major problem everywhere.
Some kids even die because of this, which is horrific.
By keeping children home and away from bullying helps at the beginning but life is tough and the bullying doesn’t end once a child is out of school. It continues at our jobs, in the grocery stores, on the road, anywhere.
Every parent is hoping that his child will not be bullied and is praying for it not to happen.
Unfortunately this is not possible. It will happen and they need to learn how to deal with it, where to ask for help and how to solve the problem with the parent’s help.
3. Teacher’s Qualifications.
There are good teachers and bad teachers out there. The good part is that, as a parent, you can keep an eye on what is happening in school. Parents can be involved and they do have the power to change some things if they notice that a teacher is not doing their job.
4. Flexibility.
It is clear that if a child is homeschooled there is a lot of flexibility. At the same time, if too much flexibility is allowed in a child’s education, they loose the sense of responsibility. If things can be easily adjusted around them, they will assume that this is how it works in life.
Unfortunately, as an adult, with a full time job and the weight of taking care of a family on your shoulders, flexibility is one expensive commodity that you can’t easily afford nowadays.
5. Educational opportunities.
Indeed, home schooled children might have the luxury to study different things than the ones that go to public schools.
However, as a parent I think that even if I do take my children to a public school my obligation is to teach them a lot of other things in private, after school. I can easily do this, while having fun. I can use my imagination to improvise and create scenarios that she would remember because they were taught in a fun environment.
I can offer my knowledge and life experience and all the things I learned and read about. It is my job to do this. My job is also to offer my child, from an early age, the option to integrate herself in a society that she will have to deal with, sooner or later.
I strongly believe that girls should be independent and capable of taking care of themselves when they grow up.
They need to learn from an early age that life is not only about being married and raising kids. If it happens that Mr. Right will show up one day, that’s great but if for some reason his arrival is “delayed”, it’s absolutely no tragedy.
From an early age girls need to know that life is about learning, accumulating experiences, bettering themselves, and being independent and responsible.
If they reach a high level of education first, when it comes down to raising a family, things will be much easier.
Maybe this is one of the very important reasons I believe that girls should go to public schools. They need to learn, maybe even more than the boys, to be independent and deal with what is out there.
