Pros & Cons of Home Education
Pros
1. Stronger family connection
I believe building a stronger family connection is one of the most positive potential outcomes of home education. Supporters of home education argue that it enables families to build stronger bonds (Romanowski. M 2001). Home education gives families more time together. More time to communicate, share and be involved in each other's lives. You may do more things as a family, rather than as individuals.
Children will experience frustrations, conflicts and other challenges in their lives but if this is happening to a home educated child, it means that we, the parents, are more likely to be present and available physically and emotionally to help them work through it. As Merry and Howell (2009) state“the parent lives through the child's agonising experience in real time”rather than“retrospectively at the family dinner table." Going through things together, will surely only strengthen the family and make stronger closer relationships.
2. Flexibility
Flexibility, for me, is definitely a benefit to home education. You can do it the way you want to. You don't have to keep to a schedule but you can if that works well for you. The flexibility and freedom means that you are able to change what you may have planned for the day, adapt the lessons, or follow the children's interests. The government does not stipulate that you have to follow a curriculum, so the approach to learning is up to you. You don't have to follow school term dates or school times, you could start later in the day or have holidays during term time. The flexibility allows you to find what works best for you and your family.
3. One-to-one learning
One-to-one learning is something that doesn't happen in schools. The potential opportunities are endless and the outcomes can only be positive. You can truly design the learning to where your child is at, and at their pace. They do not have to contend with 30 other children. One-to-one could mean that your child may learn things quicker and move on faster or you can continue to revisit things. This can all be done in the moment too. You can purely follow them.
4. Child led learning & following interests
This is linked to one-to-one learning. You can be led by your child and have the opportunity to follow their interests, due to the flexibility and freedom of not having the restrictions of school. The learning can be personalised to the child: focussing on areas that they may find challenging, or stretching them if you so wish, or learning about subjects that are especially of interest to them. You can also adapt or slightly change what you are learning if your child shows interest in a different aspect – you will have the time to do it. Rather than following a structured approach, you may decide a more 'natural' learning approach and do 'deep dives' when a particular idea, question or project pops up.
5. Extra-curricular activities and opportunities
The opportunities for extracurricular activities and opportunities for children to try new things are available to home educated children. Just search online and there are lots of different classes and activities for home ed children. Children then have the opportunity to try things they may not have tried before, finding what they enjoy and are interested in. You have opportunity to go on day trips– museums, zoos etc at reduced rates. As you are not restricted to school terms for cultural holidays, or overseas adventures if you choose to.
Cons
1. Financial impact
Home educating can be expensive. Not only does it mean that you may lose one income but parents have to cover all educational expenses. There is currently no funding for elective home education in the UK, so the full cost of educating your child at home must be covered by you. It can be a huge financial commitment as you may want to enrol your child in activities, taking part in social meet ups, pay for private tutoring, purchase resources including subscriptions and go on different day trips.
2. Less time for yourself
Home education not only means that you will obviously spend more time with your children, but you may also spend evenings & weekends planning, preparing and organising as well as balancing everything else involved in running a household. You may need to be even more organised. It's important to take care of yourself, as this will have an impact on everything else.
3. Planning & preparation
Everyone is different. You may want to plan the sessions or go with the flow. Depending on the age of your child or the approach you are taking, you may want to prepare resources or use a tutor. This is all another time and financial commitment. Looking into social events, activities and day trips will all take time and I often find takes longer than I think. Schemes are being created for home education, you may decide that schemes are a route for you and your family and may well save some planning and preparation time. Please do consider the best one for you and think about why you want to use a particular scheme – think about the purpose.
4. Outside judgement
People always have opinions and are quite happy to share these. Things that are out of the ordinary tend to be questioned. Hopefully, you are mainly getting positive reactions and people closest to you are being supportive.
The responsibility and pressure of home education can be stressful in itself. I feel the pressure, I want to try to do the best job I can for my children. For me, I know I need to be organised, even more than I am now. I will need to plan my own timetable to fit everything in including the household jobs, planning etc. Make lists if you need to and ask for help too. Also, it is important to be aware that the Local Authority may get in touch either asking for a visit or asking you for a written response about your home education. There is help online especially facebook groups, where families have been through this already so it maybe worth doing your research and looking at the guidelines.
There are probably many more pros and cons that you have experienced – please feel free to comment if you so wish and share your experiences.
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