Home-schooling is not something I’ve ever considered myself. I do feel that going to school is the best for our children and that’s not something I would want to change. However, I am really interested in the idea of home-schooling and I can certainly see the benefits for some families.

Home-schooling is where parents take on the role of providing an education for their children, rather than sending them to school. Reasons for doing this may vary, but in essence, if the parents do not feel that a school curriculum works for their child, or want to focus on talents that schools do not, then the option to home-school allows them to develop their child’s education in the way they want. If you are thinking about homeschooling your children, then here are some of the possible benefits.

Learn at Own Pace

When your child is able to learn at home, there are no time constraints that can affect how much information he or she can absorb. For example, in a school setting, if a child is not understanding a maths problem, the scheduled breaks may come at just the wrong time, leaving that child feeling dissatisfied or left behind. With homeschooling, your child gets all of your attention and can work at things at their own pace. This deepens their understanding and helps them feel good about their learning too.

Relaxed Environment

The home environment is a relaxed place to learn. You can listen to music, take breaks when you need to, and eat when it suits your family. It gives a flexibility to change focus if needed, to learn organically, rather than learning being pigeon-holed into time slots.

Learn about lots of Topics

Schools have a set amount of topics that they cover, but what if children are interested in things outside of those topics? With homeschooling, you can help develop those interests at a deeper level. School environments are not always designed to cater for individuals; rather they provide a basic level of education that all children are expected to meet.

While this is fine for most, it does bring about a narrower range of topics to learn, whereas home-schooling has an endless scope of interests to learn more about. This way you can give your child a broader education than a classroom-based system.

Travel when you want

Homeschooling means that you can travel when you want to, rather than having to fit trips into school holidays. Organising a winter holiday, a city break or an adventure holiday would be a great learning experience. Seeing other countries and soaking up the atmosphere of another culture is also a part of education, and you can have it as part of your own home-schooling curriculum.

Homeschooling your children is not something to be taken lightly, after all, you are responsible for your child’s education, or lack of! Homeschooling, while being more relaxed, still needs a strong sense of discipline to make sure that children do actually do the required learning each day.

Do you home-school your children? I’d love to know more about how it works for you.