Homeschooling has become immensely popular in the west, with several million children now being home-schooled by their parents or in co-op home schools. But in spite of its surging popularity, homeschooling can be harmful to some children, their social development, and even their parents.
While there are definitely situations in which homeschooling is ideal, some home-schooled children can face disadvantages when they reach college and working age. Here are five arguments to consider about homeschooling children.
Financial Strain
In many 21st-century households, more than one income is needed to sustain the household and ensure the needs of the family are met. In two-parent households, homeschooling can significantly impact the financial stability of the household, as at least one parent must remain at home to homeschool their child or children of the household. For middle-class parents, the loss of a household income very often translates into serious financial strain in both the immediate and far future.
Lack of Qualification
Due to a lack of academic qualification in certain subjects, particularly in high-school grades, homeschooling parents must sometimes hire subject-specific tutors – even if they have a teaching or other academic degree – to instruct their children at home, adding to the financial strain already faced by the loss of that parent’s income.
In states where homeschooling is regulated, even lightly, this lack of qualification can present a significant challenge to homeschooling parents – and later to the children themselves if they have not been given a curriculum well-rounded enough to prepare them for college or trade school.
See also: Top 10 Best Online Masters in Teaching Degree Programs
Lack of Peer Socialization
Appropriate peer socialization is critical to the psychological and emotional development – and well-being – of children. Children need to be around other children, and frequently. It’s true that there is an abundance of homeschooling groups and co-ops and these groups provide ample opportunities for socialization. However, some homeschooling parents argue that they want to protect their children from bullying and abuse, and tend to shy away from becoming involved with other students and parents. In addition to depriving their children of an environment where they can form many positive relationships, these parents are also depriving their children of the ability to learn to handle bullying and abuse tactics, which are skills they need to successfully navigate adulthood.
Development of Over-dependency
Homeschooled children can develop co-dependency or over-dependency on their parents, rather than having a well-balanced development of independence by spending time among their peers and around adults other than their parents. This can often result in the children being ill-prepared to leave home as adults, to attend college or another post-secondary institution, and can impact them professionally later on due to reduced decision-making capability as a result of the lack of independence.
Excessive Stress on Parents
Just as children need time away from their parents to develop appropriately, parents also need time away from their children. Spending all day with one’s child or children, every day, results in increased stress and anxiety in the parent. Every parent needs time to simply be with other adults minus their children, to work, or to have time alone – without their kids.
For the parents of children with special needs, homeschooling them can also deprive them of the necessity of being with a team of trained professionals who can best meet their educational needs – a specialized resource that homeschooling parents may not have. Raising special needs children is stressful even for parents who send their child to school, and that stress can be multiplied without the support of educational professionals trained to teach special needs kids.
Every child is unique, and while homeschooling may be right for some, it should be approached with caution and investigated thoroughly when parents are deciding how best to educate either children – and how bet to equip them for the future.
Recommended reading: 5 Reasons to Homeschool Your Kids
