There are many benefits to homeschooling children: as costs of private
schools continue to climb, homeschooling is a more affordable option;
homeschooling allows more educational flexibility and can be scheduled
conveniently around other family activities; and the curriculum and
learning environment can be tailored to suit your child's individual
needs.
When you decide to homeschool your child, you must have a clear
curriculum, plan and goals. Homeschooling allows you a great deal of
flexibility, in that you can teach a child something in many different
ways, and teach many different things for a given subject. However,
this very flexibility can also be your downfall if not handled
properly, as you run the risk of providing an inconsistent and sub par
education that leaves your child lagging behind his or her peers.
Setting a clear educational plan means you have a better chance for
effective homeschooling. To set your plans and goals, it is a good idea
to first take a look at your child's standard curriculum for his grade
in a public or private school. See what the standard expectations are
for a given subject level, then set your targets, timeline and
curriculum for your child. Once you have decided what your child is
going to learn, you can allow for some flexibility in how your child
will learn best.
Homeschooling also requires discipline, as it can be difficult
drawing a distinction between home and schooling at home. There are
plenty of distractions in any household and when you get busy you may
be tempted to try and multitask, that is, to educate your child and
also do some other chores at home. Parents may even be tempted to give
an assignment to their child and then leave to complete some other
activities. By doing so, you are sending a negative message that his
schooling is not a high priority for you, and this will seriously
undermine the child's attitude towards his own education. So make sure
to do household duties "after-school" hours and when "school is in,"
you and your child are both focusing 100 percent on learning. This will
communicate to your child that education is important and top priority.
Homeschooling not only allows you to tailor education to your
child's individual needs, something that is lacking in both the private
and public school systems; it also allows you and your child to learn
together, thus helping to create a valuable learning experience, and
also to strengthen family bonds.
