Five Advantages and Disadvantages to Home Schooling

When thinking about the putting your children through home school versus public or private school, you really should make sure that you understand all of the criteria involved in at home education.

There is a special set of rules that a parent, guardian, or tutor must abide by when home schooling children, so if you decide that home schooling is the best option for your children, you need to do a little research in finding out what criteria you and your child must meet.

There are actually a number of reasons as to why parents opt to home school their children. They include

• Religious reasons.
• Family reasons.
• Poor learning environment at the school.
• Object the lessons of public school.
• The child has a disability or is special needs.
• Transportation issues.
• Public or private school did not challenge the child.
• The child could not get into the desired private school.
• The parents career.

When it comes to making the decision to home schooling your children, you really need to weigh both the pros and the cons.

1. Personalized Schedule. Many parents feel that their kids work better at different times of the day than what a public or private school allows for. So, home schooling allows parents and children to work out a schedule that will best work for the child. Some children work best and learn best in the morning, noon, or evening, so being able to set the learning schedule up in a way that allows the child o succeed is definitely an advantage.
2. Varied Learning Subjects. In public and private schools there is a set curriculum that each subject must abide by, so by home schooling you are able to control which areas of the different subjects you want to put more emphasis on. This, also, allows you to add courses into the home school curriculum that a normal, say, third grader would not get in organized classes.
3. Flexibility in Time. You can set your child's learning curriculum around vacations, illnesses, and other surprise events. Where in a public school, children tend to be allotted so many days they can miss without both the child and the parents getting into trouble.
4. Flexibility in Curriculum. There is, also a certain flexibility around what is taught, not just when. If you go to a public event or on home school field trip, your children may have questions about the topic at hand. Home schooling allows for a break in the normal curriculum so that you can further discuss and do activities towards the questions in a more in- depth manner.
5. Knowing Your Kids. This is the biggest advantage of home schooling. You are able to enjoy your children and watch them grow and learn on a daily basis. Home schooling allows you to really get to know your kids on a whole different level than packing them on the bus for school in the mornings.

1. Not Enough Time. Because home schooling your kids is really a full time job, you just may not have enough time in the day to do what you need to get done. You have to full research topics and prepare lessons, set up projects and field trips. You will have to spend time keeping yourself organized, and on top of all that, you have to teach.
2. No Time for Work. Because home schooling takes up a lot of time in preparation and delivery, you may run out of time for house hold duties and chores.
3. Personal Space. When home schooling your kids, you will have to give a lot of yourself away. You will pretty much loose your personal, quiet time. So, if you opt to home school your kids, make sure to schedule in time each day for yourself.
4. A Lot of Pressure. Because everyone has their own unique style to home schooling, you may end up finding yourself comparing your techniques with those of other parents. This can put a lot of pressure on you to up the anti, so to speak.
5. They Just Don't Listen. Parents who do not have regular control over their kids, may feel overwhelmed with the decision to home school. In these situations, you will just run yourself ragged running after the kids, preparing lessons, cleaning the house, and maybe even running that home business. Make sure that you have control over your children's behaviors before you decide to home school.