Why Homeschooling is Great

Have you been wanting to homeschool but are still hesitating because you are not sure if it is worth a try? Well, I was in your shoes some time back. We don't come from a homeschooling culture and everyone in the family debated over whether I should even try to homeschool my younger daughter. Now, I am totally convinced that the time and effort is worthwhile - very much so.

Why is homeschooling so wonderful? Let me count the ways.

1) Your child learns and grows in a safe, nurturing environment

Shootings and violence in public schools have convinced many parents to homeschool their children. But physical injuries are not the only causes for worry. Vulgar language, undesirable habits and rude behavior are some of the ill effects of putting your child in an environment where the children so greatly outnumber the teachers. During your child's formative years, nothing is more important than having a safe, nurturing environment in which to learn and grow. And that safe environment is at home.

2) Your child has a personalised curriculum

When you homeschool, you have the luxury of customising the curriculum according to your child's strengths, weaknesses, and interests. You can always capitalise on your child's interests to help him overcome his weaknesses. If your child is a car fanatic but dreads numbers, you can encourage him to sort his car collection and then count and graph them. If your child likes being a junior chef but is a poor reader, entice to read the ingredients for his favorite recipes. He should be able to recognise the words in no time at all!

3) Your child can learn at his own pace

In a formal school setting, your child needs to keep up or get left behind. When you homeschool, you can breeze through the topics your child is proficient in and move more slowly when he starts having problems. Sometimes, certain concepts just cannot sink in. Instead if getting frustrated, leave the topic aside and revisit a week later. That is one of the wonders of homeschooling - child-paced learning.

4) Your child learns in a real environment, not a simulated one

Much as the schools try to make lessons more true to life, more often than not, the children just learn from books. When you homeschool, you can actually catch a caterpillar to observe butterfly life cycle, study the chicken bones after dinner, pick and dissect flowers, plant some seeds and chart their growth, visit the supermarket to look at vegetables, compare weights of different food items, bake cookies, fry an egg to see how the texture changes, and lay the table for real food, not plastic ones.

5) Your child learns to be responsible for his own time

You basically have the school right in your home. There is no commuting time, no time wasted waiting for classes to start or for other children to arrive, no time wasted queueing up. So there is no reason for your child to blame any slack on traffic jams or other children. Let him know that once he finishes the assigned work, he is free to choose any other activities he likes. Of course, if he drags his feet and takes the entire day to complete his work, he will have to be prepared for just that - spending the entire day doing his work.

6) Your child does not have to face the pressure of exams

Different children react differently to stress. But if you don't have to, why even subject your child to the pressure of exams? Being able to answer forty questions in an hour does not make a child any smarter. Not being able to do so should not imply a child is a failure. Exams are not true indicators of a child's learning. When you homeschool, you will know, through your daily interactions, whether your child has learned and grown in knowledge and character. That is what really counts.