Why homeschool?
Homeschooling has a lot of benefits.
Check out these advantages of homeschooling.
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6 Homeschooling Advantages
Homeschooling is gaining in popularity in part because of its many advantages.
What can homeschooling do for your family?
Read on to find out 6 advantages of homeschooling.
You Have School Schedule Flexibility
When you send your child to school, you are at the mercy of their calendar.
If your child misses too many school days for sickness or travel, he risks repeating the grade.
Not so with homeschooling.
You can design a school calendar that fits your family schedule.
Are you taking an epic cross-country vacation in October?
Take the month off and make it up in July.
Or simply school on the road!
Your school schedule is your own.
You Have Free Time for Other Pursuits
Homeschooling takes less time than traditional school.
There is no travel time, no lines, and no busy work when you finish an assignment early.
Your school day is shorter by hours or more.
You still learn the same amount of knowledge, but you do so in a condensed way.
That leaves time for other pursuits.
Homeschoolers are often very involved in extra-curricular activities like music, theater, sports, or church.
They develop hobbies like cooking or novel-writing.
They raise chickens and climb trees.
Homeschoolers fill their time with interesting personal pursuits.
You Can Pick Your Own Program
In a traditional school, the curriculum is chosen by a team of experts.
It is one-size-fits-all.
If your child is struggling with the current math program, that is just too bad.
If she is not grasping the strict sight word approach to reading, she is not learning to read.
One of the major advantages of homeschooling is that you can design a program that perfectly suits the needs of your child.
Is she a visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or reading-writing learner?
You can tailor your approach to her learning style.
Is she fascinated by art?
You can pick science lessons that incorporate art or study art history as a subject.
Is your son way ahead in math but behind in writing?
You can have him move up or down for individual subjects.
The Teacher Knows and Loves the Student
School teachers are heroes; there is no denying that.
But they are often overworked and outnumbered.
They simply do not have the time to pay close attention to the social, physical, mental, and educational needs of your child.
You do.
In fact, no one can do it better.
No one knows your child better than you.
You are also concerned with your whole child’s development, not just his academic progress.
If you need to set spelling aside for a character lesson, you can do it.
If you need to halt math tests for a month because your child’s anxiety is high, you have that freedom.
Homeschooling lets you move in sync with your child’s needs.
Your Child Is Well-Socialized
Here is the buzzword: “socialization.” Though this is a common criticism of homeschooling, it is actually misplaced.
Kids in school spend a lot of time with their peers, but they spend little time talking to people of other ages.
Homeschoolers socialize with other family groups, which means they can talk to younger children, older children, and adults alike.
They are actually better socialized than their peers in school.
You Are the Primary Influence
Children in school spend the majority of their waking hours with other kids their age.
You may not even know these children, but they are prominent figures in your child’s life.
The opinions and behavior of peers are extremely important to tweens and teens (this is a developmental stage).
While this still happens in homeschooling, you are in a much stronger place as the primary influence on your child’s life.
You are around each other more; you see how she spends her day.
As you move through the school day together, you notice when she is sad, frustrated, or excited.
You are the primary voice speaking into her life.
Since you love her unconditionally (and have wisdom and experience to boot), this is a good thing.
6 Advantages of Homeschooling Your Child
The advantages of homeschooling are many in number, and you may find that when you homeschool you’ll discover way more than this list of 6.