Homeschooling VS. Traditional School

Brock Hieber
thegrowl
Published in
4 min readDec 5, 2016

What is it like to be home schooled, or to attend traditional school? Homeschooling is allowed all over the united states and elsewhere in the world. Although on average most kids attend public school. Home school and traditional school are very different. They have different environments, different ways of learning, and how you learn the subjects you need to learn. Approximately 3 percent of school-aged kids (ages from 5–17) population were homeschooled in the 2011–12 school year.

Homeschooling is a whole different way of learning. You are able to learn at your own pace, and use whatever technique is easiest for you. When homeschooling you don’t have to plan your life around school hours and homework, you can accomplish your work in a couple of hours and then get on with your plans that you had planned. Homeschooling can also be a great way for your child to avoid being bullied or teased from their former peers They won’t have to worry about competition or peer pressure. Also homeschooling can allow a closer family tie with each other. Due to the fact of having your parents or family members be your teacher, you will have a chance to become closer with one another. If your family is religious you can incorporate your beliefs in the way of learning.

Although you are either going to school with your siblings or by yourself, you have a very different environment then if you would attend regular school. Homeschooling does not give you the electives your regular school would. Also homeschooling is very time consuming. One parent usually is the teacher and therefore that one parent has to educate their children, drive them to their activities, and do the chores. Homeschooling can also cause financial constraints. One parent goes to work and the other will stay home and teach your kids, so you are only getting one source of payment. You may even have problems with playing sports and criticism from other people.

Traditional school is a whole new environment than homeschooling. You are in a classroom with at least 20 other kids. Sometimes you work together as a group with other kids to solve a problem. Traditional school is also a good way for your children to learn socialism. Traditional school also allows multiple teachers a day that have mastered one topic so that your child can learn the subject to the best of their abilities. Also traditional school helps prepare kids for the real world by having them interact with diverse people. Sending your child to traditional school can help the family fractionally. Once your kid is enrolled into school both of the parents a free to be both employed and have two ways of income.

Due to the fact of learning with a group of other children you may be ahead of the group but have to stay behind. You have to be apart of the group. Then you have the fact your kid may have the possibility of being bullied. When at traditional school you can’t protect your child from a lot of things like, drugs alcohol and all the bad things that you as a parent can control when they are being homeschooled. Also in traditional school you can have a teacher that you don’t like and may have a hard time learning from due to the fact you don’t like that teacher.

According to Debate.org “Homeschooling helps a parent teach a child what he or she feels is necessary for the child to learn.” Homeschooling can be a way for the parents to teach their child what they think is important. Although you as a parent may not be a certified teacher like at traditional school so your child may not be learning the right things in order to move forward. “Let the teachers do their job and as a parent, play a supportive role.” also from Debate.org. Some people believe that when being your child’s teacher and trying to be their parent might interfere with the parent child bond that a traditional school kid.

Many parents that put their kids in homeschooling think it is fine because “I went to school so therefor i am educated enough to educate my kids”. That’s not the case, nowadays the curriculum has changed dramatically. So sending your child to traditional school can be a better way to go because their are teacher there that are certified to teach the present curriculum. Also homeschooling is a bad factor when it comes to being social. Traditional school gives every kid an opportunity to be social and make friends.

Although traditional school may not be for everyone. A kid with anxiety problems may like being homeschooled. Or a kid with special needs may find it easier to learn with a familiar face and surrounding. Homeschooling can keep your child away from all the bad thing that happen at public school that not all people catch in time. While being home schooled you can have more time to do things that you are interested in or study the topic you choose. A good thing for the parent or “teacher” in the situation, you can help your child move through the harder subjects by showing them it one on one for however long is needed. Homeschooling allows you to make the school hours and breaks that you have. You can go on vacations during the year because you can take the work with you or just do it when you get back home.

Choosing between sending you child or children to traditional school or for them to be homeschooled is totally up to you as a parent. Although when making this decision you should consider all the factors of both home schooling and traditional school. It can take a big role in how your child or children end up. It can help them in learning or make them fall behind or if they are ahead make them stay stuck doing the same thing over again. So pick either one but you may think about considering all the factors before.

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