Placing your kids in the right educational environment gives them a competitive edge for their future success, and understanding the reasons to homeschool your kids helps you make the right decision. As the education debate rages on, it is important to separate fact from fiction while also factoring in the unique learning styles that your kids bring to the classroom. Since choosing to homeschool is a personal decision, here is what you should know about the benefits of teaching your kids at home.
Provide Real Life Learning Experiences
Parents often find that being able to turn the world into a classroom is one of the biggest reasons to homeschool kids. Suddenly, a trip to the grocery store turns into a math lesson, or cooking dinner provides the perfect chance to talk about chemical reactions. Being able to apply educational lessons in the real world brings them to life for kids, and homeschooling provides extra time to let kids delve into the subjects that they find interesting. For instance, your budding astronomer can stay up late sky watching on the night of a big meteor shower, or your kid can attend a live theater show with you during the day.
Choose Your Curriculum and Pacing
In public schools, teachers have to move at a certain pace to tackle specific concepts that are required by their school district and state. This means that kids who fall above or below the average marker also slip into the cracks. In a homeschool setting, you have complete control over what is taught and how the lessons are administered. This means that you can slow down until your child masters that Algebra concept or skip over that rudimentary reading lesson when they are already breezing through chapter books.
Emphasize Your Values
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 91 percent of parents said that one of the reasons they chose to homeschool was to provide a better environment. Whether you are concerned about violence at the public school or bullying, teaching your kids at home allows you to promote your values while keeping your kids safe.
Develop Your Kid’s Talents
Many kids today live busy lives that do not always leave enough time for school, yet earning that diploma is still critical for their success. For example, young athletes often struggle with balancing time for homework with practice sessions. Additionally, children who perform professionally as actors, musicians and dancers find that homeschooling allows them to travel while taking advantage of pockets of downtime to focus on their studies.
Encourage Greater Independence
With early learners, you will naturally be teaching the majority of the lessons. However, homeschooling curricula is designed to gradually allow kids to take more responsibility for planning their daily schedule. This allows your kid to figure out what works best for them such as starting their day with a challenging subject while their mind is still fresh, or your kid may choose to spend an entire day focusing on a skill that is difficult until they feel they have mastered the content of their lesson. By high school, many students are able to work alongside their parents to create a schedule for completing their assignments and reporting to any other adults that are involved in their education.
Exploring alternatives to traditional educational systems gives you more options for meeting the unique needs of your kid. While you will also enjoy the benefit of spending more time with your kid, you will also discover many reasons to homeschool that you never imagined, such as helping to nurture talents that go beyond the academic arena.
See also: 5 Arguments Against Homeschooling
