Ever since the school had to be closed in the middle of March, many parents that had to change over to work at home started to homeschool their children. Because a lot of children are responding very positively to getting educated at home, some parents started to consider to continue teaching their kids even after the strict quarantine measures are lifted. Here are the main reasons that push parents towards home education.
One Parent for One Child vs. One Teacher for Thirty Children
One definite advantage of a parent educating their child at home over a teacher of any level of proficiency teaching students in school is the amount of attention that parents can give their children. There is no debate here, no matter how you put it, a teacher with a class of 25 children will not be able to sufficiently attend to the needs and wishes of each child in the classroom. It’s simply impossible.
Parents have the upper hand in this matter because the homeschooling format is very individual and personal: one-on-one or one-on-two. When you homeschool your kids, they don’t wait around mindlessly waiting for the teacher to hear them out or space out, because they’re bored. This format of education allows you to keep your kids engaged, interested, and active, which is very hard to achieve in a literal classroom.
Parents and Kids Explore Interests Together
When parents educate their children at home, there is much more room for the kids to express their ideas and interests. The parents-turned-teachers need to listen attentively to their children and seize every opportunity for any additional learning that can be done.
Yes, parents need to follow the state pre-made learning path, but no one says that you can’t watch an educational course about the history of Europe if your kid is fascinated by it. Such little moments of learning initiative coming from children is very valuable, as they can show children just how amazing our world is and how interesting it is to learn new things. Parents need and easily can capitalize on these opportunities in the comfort of their homes.
Children Can Learn More about Everyday Life
A big criticism of the school education system is that it doesn’t give a lot to children in terms of preparation for the real world. Home education, on the other hand, puts the parent in charge of education, and so, just about every aspect of everyday life can become a possibility for learning.
School is an isolated social system for children because they really only speak to people their own age and tackle only the problems and challenges that the educational system puts forth. However, at home, parents can teach children a lot about the modern world. How do grocery stores get their products? How do you pay with a credit card for a service? What services are available? How does an essay writing service work? And so on, and on.
Parents Get to Adjust the Curriculum
This point ties partially ties into the two previous ones. Keeping children active and engaged in the classroom is incredibly hard and so, many young minds are left to entertain themselves during all of the boring parts of the lessons (which really pile on over the years of school education). A great proof of just how hard it is to manage whole classrooms of children is the failed ‘No Child Left Behind’ program.
Being completely in charge of educating their kids, parents have the power to adjust the pace and the complexity of the curriculum as they go along with their children through the learning materials. If the child can’t fully understand a topic, parents can sit on it for extended periods of time, watch additional educational videos, and complete together various creative learning exercises. If the child progresses very quickly, then why bore them with the same drills over and over? Move onto the more complex topics and give quick drills on previous topics from time to time.
Parents Can Reconnect with Their Kids
After ending up in lockdown, the biggest discovery for many parents was the simple fact of just how much they missed their children after they began attending school. With each year, the children gradually grow up and grow away from their parents. Over time, the time parents spend with their children diminishes significantly. Homeschooling allows the parents to reestablish a strong bond with the children, as you connect through a fun activity – learning.
Time to Think
The coronavirus incident is really making all of us rethink our ways of living and points out the problems we were and are currently having with the lives we lead. Of course, the education system is one of the majorly scrutinized aspects with more and more common people and experts, indicating that it is time to rethink and revamp how we go about educating our children.
