Pros and Cons of Homeschooling

Evaluating the pros and cons of homeschooling; homeschooling is becoming a popular alternative to traditional education. Once upon a time, this was something that was done strictly for religious reasons. However, these days, parents are making the choice to home school based on the best educational option for their child. “Today, over 2 million families educate their children at home, and the number continues to grow steadily each year.”(Kizlik). Making the decision to home school can be a difficult one. There is so much information on homeschooling that often people are not sure where to begin. After evaluating the following pros; educational freedom, one-on-one attention, ability to take life easy, and the option to teach your way, then the cons; cost, and socializing issues. It is often important to think of the child’s educational freedom and one-on-one attention when homeschooling. If you choose to homeschool your children, as the teacher, you will be able to create the perfect “curriculum” for your children's growth and advancement. You can create “curriculums” that are uniquely tailored to their strengths and weaknesses. This will help them to advance in the areas they are good at and to get that level of nurturing attention where they need some work. Your children will no longer have to worry about competing for any teacher's attention. As the teacher of your children, you will be able to help them the minute they need “extra attention”. This is the perfect situation for both special needs and gifted children, although on-level children flourish with the extra attention, as well (Bunday). You also find that homeschooling seems to make life easier and let you be able teach your own way. One of the best things about home schooling is the freedom that comes with it. You do not have to work on the 8-4 schedule unless that is what works for you and your children. You can homeschool at midnight if you find your children work best at this hour. You also can choose to homeschool year-round and you can pick the days that you have off. If you are religious, you can teach religious-based curriculum and have prayer breaks if you want them. If you are non-religious, you can teach a secular-based curriculum. You will have the ability to create the structure of your child's school environment from the ground up.
A huge con would be the cost; the fact is that many of those methods do cost money. In fact, some methods cost a great deal of money. How you want to homeschool will affect your decision based on whether you can afford your method of choice. There are some people that home school using classic books. They may have these books around the house or they have been purchased at flea markets or garage sales. Also, socializing issues; depending on the area you live in, this may not be an issue at all. All around the world there are homeschool support groups. If you live in a big city, you will have no problem finding groups, co-ops, field trips, and other activities for your homeschooled child. However, if you are in a more rural area, you might feel you are starving your child of socialization. If this is the case then homeschooling might be a bad idea for you and your family.
Depending on the situation, location, and the child's needs, homeschooling may or may not be a viable option .There is no right choice for every single family. Ultimately, the decision will have to be based on personal choice and opinion. Whatever the decision, you should remember to keep the child's needs at the forefront, when determining whether homeschooling them is the right decision to make or not.