The Pros And Cons Of Homeschooling Part 1

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Our children attended a private school for 2 and a half years, until we decided to Homeschool them. I've been Homeschooling for a year and a half, now and had experiences as both a Public School Mom and a Homeschool Mom. I've experienced both sides of the oncoming Homeschool vs Public School debate.

When I started Homeschooling, I was stunned by the amount of parent aggression that was dished out to us by Public School parents. Who did we think we were to be homeschooling our children? We were going to ruin them. We had no right to Homeschool them!

One person even had the audacity to say that people are Homeschool to hide abuse! Now I'm sure this may be the case, in a small percentage of Homeschool families. But the only place for these parents is a psychiatric hospital!

Please do not tell me there is less abuse in Public School families. That would be a downright lie. By Homeschooling you keep your kids away from abuse by teachers and peers.

So in essence you need to develop a thick skin. As a Homeschool parent you will be subjected to aggression by public school parents. You need to have a good idea about why you're Homeschooling because people will ask you.

You'll also hear people say, "You can not teach your child, you're not a teacher!" In a way they have a point. As a Homeschool Mom, and not a teacher, I often only have a limited prior knowledge of the subject I'm teaching. But I still can not see this as a negative.

I have no preconceived ideas about a specific subject. To overcome this, I make sure that I thoroughly research every angle of each subject before I teach our kids. My kids are then guaranteed an up to date view on their subjects, not old information that was taught in College 10 years ago! Another point is that essentially every one is a teacher. We teach our children how to walk, talk, eat and stay safe. Just to begin with! Why does that have to stop at aged 6?

Homeschooling is time consuming. It certainly takes less time to drop your kids off at Public School. It is also a huge responsibility. If your child does not get what he needs, or does not do "well" there is no one else to blame.

You will be asked; "What about Socialization?" This is a standard question by public school parents. They appear to have heard it from someone, who heard it from someone else. I'd love to hear an original spin on this question!

But bearing that in mind, you do need to make sure your children are socialized, by arranging that they join extra-curricular group activities, anything they enjoy from chess to ballet. You'll also need to arrange play dates.

Now most Mom's I know work, so what play dates mean for us is having kids to play at our house. I enjoy it. I've got 20 children move in with us permanently given half a chance, so I have no problem. But if you do not enjoy having kids underfoot, Homeschool may not be for you.

Having shown you the negative aspects of Homeschooling, please take the time to read part 2 of the Pros and Cons of Homeschooling, where you'll see the many positives of Homeschooling.