Benefits of Home Schooling

Parental Control

By choosing to teach at home, parents have a greater control over their child’s learning experience. For many families, this is one of the greatest benefits of home schooling. Parents are free to tailor their child’s curriculum to meet specific religious or cultural criteria. Parents can also build the learning experience around family values as well as their child’s strengths and interests. Home education allows parents to set the learning pace according to the needs and abilities of the individual child instead of setting it to the needs and abilities of the median of a large group. Parent teachers have more control over what influences their child and who influences him because they control every contact and experience.

Freedom to Vary Teaching Methods

Another great benefit of home schooling is that parents are not tied to any one teaching method. Unlike school teachers, parents are free to experiment until they find what workds best.

Traditional Approach

Parents who choose to teach at home are free to use whatever learning methods best suit the needs of their particular family. Some homeschoolers use a traditional curriculum to create a classroom-like environment with traditional subjects of study, like reading, math, science, and spelling. Traditional curricula usually consist of texts and workbooks with teacher’s guides.

Unit Approach

Many families use the Unit Approach to learning. In this method, the family chooses relatively broad topics and then teaches all subject areas through or around that subject. For example, a family may choose to study a unit on trains. Children will read books about trains, study the history of the American Railroad, visit train museums, study the different forces that power trains, and even compute math problems using train schedules. Unit Study Collaborative is an on-line group offering monthly unit topics and resources for preparing your own units.

Classical Approach

In the classical approach, educators strive to utilize classical Greek educational methods with a Bible-based curriculum. Learning is organized according to the three discernable stages: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The approach emphasizes the use of classic literature and the Bible as the foundation of lessons. Visit Covenant Home Curriculum to learn more about this method of teaching.

Unschooling

For unschoolers, freedom is the main benefit of homeschooling. “Unschooling” is a phrase borrowed from John Holt, an educational theorist who believes that public education actually strips the child of his natural desire to explore and learn. Homeschoolers who follow the unschooling method for educating their children generally do not use any dictating curriculum. Instead, they look for opportunities or open windows to educate the child when and where he has expressed an interest. Unschoolers usually don’t set aside specific times for teaching and learning but see every moment of every day as learning lessons. For more about the unschool method, visit Unschooling.com.

Home-based education also does not require that any one approach to learning be used exclusively. Parents have the freedom to pick and choose the aspects of each method that appeals to their needs. Parents are more able to teach using hands-on learning methods, and are freer to travel out of the home than students are to travel out of a classroom. If a method of teaching does not produce the desired results, parents do not have to consult with a board of education in order to try a new method.

Flexible scheduling

Homeschoolers are free to set their own schedule for when and for how long they work. Parent teachers can cover materials faster than a classroom teacher because they can give one-on-one instruction and are free to move ahead when a concept is understood by their very small group, instead of waiting for 25 students to get it. If a child does not work well in the morning, parents can schedule lessons for the afternoon or evening. If the family likes to take long weekends to travel, formal instruction can be scheduled for Monday through Thursday. Snow days never propose a problem, and if someone is not feeling well, they won’t miss the day’s lessons or get behind on the homework.

Children Control their Learning

Maria Montessori discovered in the early 1900s that children are more interested in and more successful at lessons when they have been allowed to choose the topic or activity. Public school educators have been trying to incorporate this theory into their methodology for decades. With class sizes of twenty-five or more, with the range of lessons expected to be covered, and with the widely varying needs and learning styles of their students, teachers can allow children to control their own learning to a very small degree. Home educating parents are able to let the child determine the direction of learning, choose subject matter,and even choose the methods for learning it. Many homeschoolers believe that child control is the reason that most homeschooled children are on average, one grade level ahead of public-schooled children.

Family Bond

Many families report that the greatest benefit of homeschooling is the bond that it builds within the family. Homeschoolers spend a greater amount of time together, no matter what the age of the children. Home-based learners feel that learning becomes a common goal of the entire family and that being involved in that goal draws them closer than if each child pursued the goal outside of the home. Parents feel more connected to their children because they are actively involved in their experiences. Children feel cherished because they are aware of the sacrifices their parents make in order to homeschool. Homeschoolers feel they are able to live by their own set of family values more closely and that this makes them stronger and closer as a family.

Benefits of Home Schooling Summary

While home schooling may not be the right choice for all families, many home schoolers find that it offers many advantages, both tangible and intangible. Families are free to choose their own methods, curriculum, and schedules in a home schooling lifestyle. In addition, families can focus on their morals, values, and religion if they so choose.