If you’re considering home education for your children, this post is for you! There are so many fears floating around about homeschooling, and most of them are rooted in a lack of knowledge about what homeschool really is. The benefits of homeschooling are great, and I believe that it has the ability to enrich your family like nothing else! Here, I’m sharing all of the advantages and benefits of homeschooling that we have experienced in our homeschooling journey!
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Ditch The Fears And Embrace the Benefits of Homeschooling
In my opinion, the only way to truly experience the benefits that homeschooling provides, is to let go of whatever fears you may have. If we operate our homeschool based out of fear, we are robbing ourselves of the joy and blessings that are waiting for us!
Worrying that your kids aren’t learning what they’re teaching in public schools, or trying to impress everyone with too many extracurricular activities is only going to exhaust and overwhelm you. It’s going to lead to a performance driven homeschool rather than a homeschool that embraces the love of learning.
I want my children to be lifelong learners and not view learning as something you only do within a few given “school hours” each day. And homeschooling can provide that type of environment IF you embrace it! Homeschooling is different from traditional schools and the sooner you can acknowledge that, the better.
Read also: What I Wish I Knew Before I Started Homeschooling
The Academic Benefits Of Homeschooling
Alright, let’s first talk about the academic benefits of homeschooling since that is usually the area where people have the most fear.
Your Child’s Learning Style:
- Homeschooled children have the advantage of being able to learn in a way that best suits their individual needs and learning style. This is a HUGE benefit because a lot of the time when kids don’t understand something, it’s because it’s not being taught in a way they can grasp. Homeschooling provides the opportunity for a parent to teach their child in the most effective way for them, and ensure they are grasping each concept.
Individual Attention:
- Unlike public or private schools where there could be as many as 30-35 students in a class, homeschooling allows for individual attention and one-on-one learning. Homeschool days are so much shorter than public school days because of the fact that we can spend more time with our children on any given subject. What public school might need an hour to cover, we can probably cover in 20 minutes. Being able to give our children this individual attention helps speed up the learning process in general, as well as ensure they fully understand what’s being taught.
Flexible Schedule:
- Because homeschooling provides the ability to have a flexible schedule, homeschool students have the time to expand their learning far beyond the basics. A homeschool education can include things like online learning, job shadowing, apprenticing, and more. Homeschooled children are able to have so many different learning experiences because of the extra time that simply isn’t there with traditional schooling.
Alternative Education Options:
- For some people, the idea of homeschooling means trying to replicate a traditional education at home. That might work for some, but one of the benefits of homeschooling is that you can embrace alternative education options. Things such as homeschool co-ops, field trips, and different educational materials are only a few of the alternative education options available to homeschoolers. You can choose to learn through spending time on a particular study that interests your family such as nature, astronomy, or history. You can take the unit study approach and center your child’s learning around a topic that interests them, and tie the basic elements of vocabulary and numerical literacy into those topics. The sky’s the limit with homeschooling and you are not confined to one curriculum like the public school is.
Non-Academic Benefits Of Homeschooling
Besides the academic benefits I listed above, there are countless other benefits of homeschooling that have nothing to do with academics!
Strengthening Family Ties:
- Homeschooling has the ability to form amazing connections and relationships within your family. Homeschooling becomes your family’s lifestyle and the benefits of that are astounding! Homeschool families do way more together than just school work. We live, grow, and learn together every single day which means we see each other reach every milestone and overcome every struggle. Homeschooling has the ability to bring your family closer in a whole new way!
Social Skills:
- It’s a common misconception that homeschooled kids won’t learn social skills. In fact, it’s probably one of the most common questions we receive as a homeschooling family. But the reality is, homeschooling offers amazing opportunities for your children to experience people and situations that broaden their social horizons, way beyond what traditional classrooms have to offer. A huge part of the homeschooling experience is spending time with people of all ages and backgrounds, and gaining many diverse experiences! There are so many social activities going on within the homeschooling community that you have to pick and choose what you participate in, otherwise you’d never be home!
Free Time:
- Because homeschooling takes less time each day than traditional school, it allows your children to have more free time to play and explore their own interests. Play is so important to the brain development of children, and it is through play that they learn skills like problem solving, compromising, cooperation, and more. Kids need time to be kids! And free time isn’t only good for younger children, older children need it too. It gives them a lot of time to pursue their passions and learn new skills as they work toward their career readiness. The free time that homeschooling offers means there are plenty of opportunities to experience life outside the 4 walls of a classroom.
Less Rushing Around:
- Because homeschooling is so flexible, you have control over your daily routine and schedule. As homeschoolers, rushing around in the morning trying to get sleepy kids loaded on the bus on time simply isn’t a thing! Same with trying to beat traffic so you make it to the school on time every day for pick up, or packing lunches in a panic because you forgot to do it the night before. Homeschooling means you live life at your own pace, without all the pressures of the public school system. This is one of the main reasons I love homeschooling so much! Every morning I get to have quality time with my kids and we design our days based on our lives and the needs of our family. Living life on your own schedule and not someone else’s is a beautiful thing!
Peer Pressure:
- Last but not least, one major benefit of homeschooling is less negative peer pressure. I do not buy into the belief that negative peer pressure helps build resiliency in children. And the growing mental health crisis among youth in today’s culture is evidence that I’m right. I do believe that children need to experience diverse opinions, criticism and even people they don’t particularly like in order to have an accurate depiction of the world. But those things come simply by living life and being around other people. Those are natural occurrences that will help build character strength. However, subjecting children to negative peer pressure and bullying day after day, is not helping them. Homeschooling provides a safe learning environment and lots of social interaction to prepare them for the world, without tearing them down in the process.
Final Thoughts
I realize that not every child should be homeschooled. There are some situations where school is the only place that is safe for kids who are living in abusive or neglectful situations. That reality breaks my heart, and for those children I’m thankful that good teachers exist and that school provides some distance from the abuse.
But in healthy family situations, homeschooling is an incredible option and should be considered if possible. The benefits of homeschooling are many – far more than what I listed here! You and your children will be enriched in ways you did not know possible.
If you are currently considering it for your family, I encourage you to just go for it! I know you won’t regret it!
Blessings!
~Maryann
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