The Benefits of Homeschooling Your Child

Homeschooling has been making a significant clamor in the local education scene, especially with the advent of education providers, homeschool “umbrella” schools and other individualized education programs. Having been homeschooled myself for a few years in my youth, I’ve seen how this form of family-based education has formed me into the mom I am now. I believe that, as with all education, homeschooling has its own special benefits.

 

Homeschool is Quality, Life-long Education

“It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education,” said Albert Einstein, noted physicist and, yes, homeschooled student (See this article on famous homeschoolers for other people who learned at home). Unlike conventional schooling, homeschooling allows parents and children to delve deeper into what they are currently learning. “The geniuses of the ages were generally brought up in homeschools,” says modern homeschool pioneer Dr. Raymond Moore

Homeschooling doesn’t mean transplanting school into the home. Rather, it means education is in cultivating a lifestyle of learning all the time, not from textbooks and lesson plans alone. Cooking can be a math and home economics lesson all-in-one just as taking care of a pet can be a science project. The main rule in home- or family-directed learning is to keep the learning fresh and interesting, always considering children’s natural curiosities.

 

Homeschooling Empowers Parents

Because they are the primary educators, homeschooling gives parents the opportunity to create learning experiences. Even without education credentials, parents can always successfully teach their kids, just as they taught them to walk and talk. Education consultant and author Gene Royer puts this into perspective: “In a homeschooling environment, the teacher need not be certified, but the child MUST learn. In a public school environment, the teacher must be certified, but the child need not learn.”

 

Click here to read more about the benefits of homeschooling.

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Read on to learn more about the benefits of homeschooling.

 

In fact, I was taught in high school grade levels by my own mom, who had no formal training, was not a college graduate, and was an interior designer by profession! That’s because, regardless of training, kids will learn from their parents. It’s natural! Also, parents can source mentors for their kids who can “teach” their kids through real experiences (i.e. the gardener to “teach botany” while planting a sapling, or an aunt who’s a dentist to “teach anatomy” while getting a routine cleaning.). Your kids can learn from the best, all because you made it possible for them.

 

Homeschooling is Freedom and Flexibility

Unlike in a school setting where all the children learn the same thing in the same sequence according to the same schedule, homeschooling lets children and parents delve into a subject. In homeschooling, there’s time to observe a caterpillar eat its way through a leaf, time pack into the car and visit the museum, time to fly a kite for science class–just because.

Does your child want to read a Grade 5 instead of a Grade 4 reader? Go ahead! Homeschooling lets parents follow the pace of their children’s learning. I was reading college level books by the time I was in third year high school—just because! “The idea is to educate, not follow anyone’s schedule about when something should be studied,” says Ray Drouillard. In homeschooling, kids can follow their passions, which is what causes true learning to happen.

 

Homeschooling is Judgment-Free Childhood

Family forms the structure of homeschooling. Therefore, it’s an inclusive lifestyle where everyone is accepted for who they are. Children are free to learn as they please in a secure, positive and nurturing environment. Children can know who they are without the concept of being labeled as “cool” or some other social label. Homeschooling children, free from a school environment, are around different kinds of people all the time. John Holt, a former public school teacher turned family advocate says "What is most important and valuable about the home as a base for children's growth in the word is not that it is a better school than the schools but that it isn't a school at all."

 

Click here to read more about the advantages of homeschooling.

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Read on to learn more about the advantages of homeschooling.

 

Homeschooling will not always be smooth sailing, but then again, neither is parenting! Opportunities for these benefits present themselves in homeschooling will always abound.

For more information on how homeschooling can benefit your family, join the 3^rd Philippine Homeschool Conference. For information, visit its Facebook page.