Homeschooling has become a hugely popular alternative for many families and there are many benefits for homeschooling children which includes moving away from the one size fits all school curriculum.
Homeschooling, also known as Elective Home Education (EHE) involves parents choosing to provide education for their children at home rather than sending them to a school full time.
It was recorded that in autumn 2023, an estimated 92,000 children were in elective home education which was an increase from the 80,900 from the previous autumn term.
Parents were asked why they choose to home school their children with 16% reporting philosophical reasons, 13% mental health reasons and 8% for lifestyle reasons. 40% of parents did not provide a reason.
Advantages of Homeschooling over Public Schooling
The success of homeschooling will depend on many factors including the individual families, the teaching ability of the parents, the style of learning, the curriculum taught and the child’s unique needs. It is the parents’ sole responsibility to ensure the children receive a sufficient education at home.
It can be hard for children to learn in a classroom environment full of up to 30 children and there isn't as much one on one time with the teacher to focus on their individual needs and skills. However, with homeschooling the quality of the education will drastically improve as the children will receive the full attention of the teacher with a tailored education system that focuses on their unique needs with learning tailored to their strengths.
Home School Children Score Higher on Test Results
The learning content can also be taught at the child’s own pace to ensure they fully understand the lessons.
According to the National Home Education Research Institute, on average, children that are home schooled score up to 30% higher on exams than public school children.
This can be due to the lack of stress involved in homeschooling and the freedom and flexibility of home learning.
Customise Learning Experience
One major benefit of homeschooling is the ability to customise the whole learning experience for the children to make it easier and more fun to learn at home without any distractions. The learning can be tailored to the child’s individual needs, ability and interests to keep them engaged over time.
This may involve spending more time on a subject they enjoy, more time outside for physical exercise or taking more time to focus on subjects that they struggle with for personalised lessons that boost learning.
The home school day can also be customised and performed in different settings to broaden the learning achieved and maintain engagement with the students such as:
Parks
Museums
Libraries
Churches
Nature Reserves
Homeschooling can be more efficient for students because there is no requirement to follow the national curriculum and they can focus on subjects they enjoy with no set time table. Parents don’t have to follow the school day timings meaning there is more time to learn about real life skill building topics such as cooking, volunteering and learning to budget.
Stronger Family Bonds
Although school can be a huge help in developing social and communication skills for children when they are around students of the same age and teachers, homeschooling will strengthen family bonds. Home schooled children will develop socially in a different way as it will improve close family relationships with those who all share the same values.
Homeschooling encourages strong familial bonds between parents and siblings as they learn and play together. Strong family bonds not only improve learning and social skills, it can also increase self esteem and confidence and improve physical and mental wellbeing.
No Peer Pressure
School can be quite difficult for some children who feel like they have to fit in and change their personality due to pressure and perhaps even bullying, whereas at home the children can be who they are without the stress of feeling different. Homeschooling doesn’t mean children can’t socially interact, there are volunteering opportunities available and local community options that allow children to meet people of all ages to develop their social skills.
Flexible Schedules
Another major benefit of homeschooling is the availability to create flexible schedules that cater to the children’s unique learning needs. A flexible school schedule will improve the school / home balance and there is no longer any time wasted on the school run, instead the children can get straight into learning in the morning at a time that is suitable for everyone.
Customisable Family Schedules
The lessons at home can be taught at more suitable times for the family and the daily lessons can often finish quicker than at school with the effective one to one learning boosting the understanding of the students. The home schooling day can also be scheduled around jobs and appointments to increase the suitability of learning and reduce the disruption that can be caused at public schools by being taken out of class for appointments.
Some children learn better at different times of the day and so creating a flexible schedule that caters to the individual needs of the students will provide a huge boost in the retention of the learning.
Tailored Curriculum
One of the most important aspects of homeschooling is the option to teach a tailored curriculum which will better suit the students’ needs and style of learning. There is no legal requirement for homeschooling to follow the national curriculum unless the children are being entered into the GCSE exams. However, even if they are preparing for GCSEs, the teaching does not need to be so strict as to only follow the tests.
No Continuous Mock Exams or Assessments
Home schooled children do not need to perform continuous mock exams and assessments and will instead have more time to learn what they want to learn on top of what they have to learn. This will reduce the stress and pressure involved in exam season and will help achieve better results.
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Homeschooling is a big commitment for families and it is important that sufficient research is performed before making the decision. It can be an environment where children thrive if provided with the appropriate resources to make it work.
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