Summary:
Many parents eager to begin home schooling their children have though long and hard about the benefits home schooling will bring to their children. But unfortunately they often fail to consider the home schooling disadvantages which can also play a big part in their children's academic and social development. While parents may love the idea of allowing their kids to learn at their own pace without being pressured to keep up or labeled "dummies" if they need to spend more ...
Many parents eager to begin home schooling their children have though long and hard about the benefits home schooling will bring to their children. But unfortunately they often fail to consider the home schooling disadvantages which can also play a big part in their children's academic and social development.
While parents may love the idea of allowing their kids to learn at their own pace without being pressured to keep up or labeled "dummies" if they need to spend more time than most of their classmates in mastering a subject, one of the home schooling disadvantages which they may not be factoring into their home schooling decision is whether or not their skills as teachers are up to helping their kids learn difficult material.
One of the biggest home schooling disadvantages is that a parent will be completely responsible for designing his or her children's schedule, curriculum, and the moral and social values to be instilled in them as a part of their education. That sort of responsibility will extend well past the hours in which a parent and kids are actively engaged in home school.
The Time Involved In Home Schooling
A home schooling parent will have to spend time before and after class researching and organizing a curriculum which meets the home schooling standards in their school district, and also plan the class time activities which will make the material interesting for the kids. Parents with kids in different grades will have to come up with a unique curriculum and activities for all of them.
Another possible home schooling disadvantages is the when the home schooling is done by a parent, a family which had been used to having two incomes will now have to get by on a single one, unless the parents are hiring a tutor to home school their kids. If a tutor is involved, the parents may be concerned about how well the kids are progressing in their absence.
Home schooling disadvantages also extend into the social area. A school classroom is not merely a place where children advance academically; it is their introduction to learning social interaction skills. Learning to interact with children other than their brothers and sisters is important for every child, because almost the entire world is unrelated to them. For more info see http://www.homeschoolresults.com/Articles/Florida_Home_Schooling.php on Florida Home Schooling.
A big part of becoming truly educated comes from being exposed to, and learning to accept, those whose viewpoints may conflict with your own. A home schooled child may not get a chance to develop that level of tolerance.