Adventures in Dad Land

What Are the Benefits of Homeschooling?

by: Joshua White

Have you been considering homeschooling?  Are you trying to figure out whether or not it’s for you?  Have you been wondering, “what exactly are the benefits of homeschooling?”  Today, I’d like to attempt to answer that question for you.  I realize that you might also wonder about the negatives.  That’s a great topic as well, but I’m going to save that for another time.  Today, let’s just focus on the benefits.

To me, the number one benefit is closer family relationships.  Our family is able to spend considerably more time together than the average family.  In that time, we are able to help shape the values of our children, nurture their growth, and grow closer as a family.  We can get to know each other more, and just enjoy life together.  In a time when families are falling apart at a stunning rate, we place a high premium on growing closer together, not further apart.

I also love the academic benefits that homeschooling affords.  In Texas, where we live, it seems a lot of time is spent teaching children how to pass the TAKS test.  My concern for my kids is not that they learn the ability to pass a standardized test, but that they learn to be responsible, caring, loving adults and productive members of society.  Knowing how to pass a test is not nearly as important to me as fostering a love of reading, teaching the ability to solve everyday math problems, and ensuring that they know how to communicate effectively.  Student teacher ratios are generally much better at home, allowing for more effective teaching interactions.  We can pace our teaching to our children.  In public schools, at some point, a teacher just has to move on, whether or not your child understands.  In our home, there is no busywork or teaching of material that the children are just not yet ready to learn.  Likewise, there is no moving on to multiplication when adding has not been mastered.

Scheduling flexibility is also a major benefit.  If a parent does shift work, school can be scheduled in such a way that the parent still has plenty of time with the kids.  You can plan vacations during slower times, so, for example, you don’t end up at Disney World during Spring Break when everyone else is there.  You can have class on days when the weather is entirely too bad to be out enjoying it, to free you up when you do want to be out there.  For example, we do a lot of school during the summer months when it is consistently over 100 degrees outside.  This allows us to take more time off during the fall, when it is beautiful outdoors, and there is so much to do.  If a major life change occurs, you can work around it.  In the event of the birth of a child, the death of a friend or family member, moving across town or across the country, or the hospitalization of a loved one, school can temporarily be put on hold or even just slowed down, and resumed when life stabilizes.

The last benefit I’d like to cover is that it gives you the ability to help guide the social interactions of your children.  Children who are homeschooled are often placed in more natural social settings.  They interact with children and adults of various ages instead of a room full of people who are exactly the same age.  After all, when your children land their first job, are they going to work with only 16, 18, or 22 year-olds, or is it more likely that they will be expected to interact with people who are both younger and much older than them?  You can also protect them, to an extent, from unnecessary social pressure until they have learned the skills to handle such pressures.  There are typically no bullies in a homeschool setting, nor is there someone pressuring them to do things they are not old enough to be thinking about.

Well, there you have it.  While this list is in no way exhaustive, to me it represents so much of who we are.  There are other benefits, but these are personal.  If you are considering homeschooling, I would encourage you to give it a try, you may just find that you can’t imagine life any other way!

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