Debunking Misconceptions About Homeschooling: 7 Facts You Wish You Knew
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The year is 2022, so you’ve probably heard of homeschooling. As homeschooling gains more popularity and more parents resort to it, the rumors and speculations increase. But we won’t accept the defamation of such an amazing system! Educatly is here to tell you what homeschooling is and its benefits and debunk 7 misconceptions about homeschooling to lead you to the light.
What Is Homeschooling?
Do you know how children go to public schools, attend classes, do their homework, and take examinations at the end of the year? Homeschooling is just like that, except the students don’t need to go somewhere or study at a specific time. Sometimes, they don’t even need to take examinations! Home education is where the parent (or hired teachers) teach the child. The child gets to lead a very flexible life, learn to time manage and self-study, and receive a personalized education.
The homeschooling movement is progressing all around the world. Many families choose to homeschool their children for a lot of reasons. It can be distrust in the public education system, differences in religion, philosophies, beliefs, or other reasons.
Homeschooling has many advantages, such as:
1. It’s flexible, as the student learns at their own pace, with their own schedule.
2. Students get a lot of attention from their parents and get to discover their learning styles, interests, and skills.
3. At a young age, home is a safer environment for the child, mentally, emotionally, and behaviorally. It's where the parent can care for the child (in other words, no teacher would be harsh on them, and no rogue child would bully them!)
4. The child has a low chance of getting emotionally neglected as they spend so much time with their parent, and the hassle of life isn’t keeping them apart.
5. students can receive a personalized curriculum customized to their skills, interests, abilities, and goals at the appropriate age.
6. Health safety (because it doesn’t look like COVID-19 is going anywhere.)
7. Free time to do volunteer work, exercise, and work on many other aspects essential to a healthy person's growth and development.
8. Students actually get to learn about things, not learn to pass exams. This leads to…
9. Facing way less stress with no teacher bombarding them with quizzes, midterms, or constant comparisons to other students.
10. Students are eligible to apply and go to college, just like all normal students.
Need we go on?
Now, while all of this is going on, a lot of people are building and spreading very different ideas about homeschooling. In the majority of the cases, it’s far from the truth, and we’re here to tell you the truth.
Here Are 7 Misconceptions About Homeschooling:
1. Homeschooling is not a real education
If you think about it, homeschooling was around before schools. That’s how people learned and how some people still do. So homeschooling is real education, and to back that up, we can tell you that colleges and universities accept homeschooled students as much as they accept public schooled students (if not more.)
2. To homeschool your kids, you need to be a teacher
Parents naturally are occupied with their children, how well they’re doing at school, their growth, their mental state, and their well-being overall. From the moment a child is born to the age of five, the child learns everything from their parents and their surrounding environment. The first 5 years of a child’s life are the most critical as they develop and learn the basics of life. So why in the world would it be hard to remain your child’s teacher until they go to middle or high school?
Homeschooling parents teach manners, reason, math, writing, reading, art, history, and even science. With so many resources for the parents, such as books, manuals, online courses, and the internet, parents could even learn with their children whatever subject they lack knowledge of. The most important part is that the parent (teacher) can communicate with the child (student), and there’s an established comfort between them so the child can be open to learning.
3. Homeschooling parents are unemployed
This is one of the most popular misconceptions about homeschooling! A parent can be working from home or even have a full-time office job and still be their child’s main teacher. It needs some organization, time management, cooperation, hard work, and a shared understanding between the parent and the child, in which a child can also be responsible and cooperate. Parents can sometimes hire trusted teachers for specific subjects for assistance. The key to being a full-time parent and a full-time employee is to remember that homeschooling is flexible.
4. Homeschooled kids are gifted and intelligent
This is far from the truth! Not to say that homeschooled kids are naturally stupid, but they’re just like all of us: mainly average but excellent in specific aspects. This misconception was birthed thanks to the excellent academic performance of homeschooled kids. People can’t believe they’re just homeschooled and not God-sent.
The truth is a cared-for child who receives their teacher’s full attention will have higher self-esteem and motivation to study. As the child gets older and knows how to study, manage himself, and take responsibility, he’ll have all the necessary tools to make great achievements.
5. Homeschooled kids don’t get to make friends
On the contrary, homeschooled kids have friends and socialize well! It’s not as if kids only make friends at school. Homeschooled kids play sports, take music lessons, go to parks, and participate in extracurricular activities. All of these places present many chances to meet friends and socialize.
Actually, studies have shown that homeschooled kids are well-socialized and well-adjusted and have fewer behavioral issues than a public-school-attending kid.
6. Homeschooled kids don’t go to college
Matter of fact, according to a study, homeschooled kids perform better on tests. Some of the best universities around the world, such as MIT or Harvard, are keen on recruiting homeschooled students, as they’re self-disciplined, self-motivated, and proven to have a higher chance to commit and graduate.
7. Not a lot of people homeschool their kids
WRONG! From 2020 to 2021, there have been roughly 3.7 million homeschooled students. There are many countries all around the world where homeschooling is spread, such as Canada, Australia, the UK, and the US. Some of your most beloved celebrities are actually homeschooled. Do you know Emma Watson? The English actress, activist, and feminist? Hermione Granger from Harry Potter? She was homeschooled while she filmed Harry Potter. Billie Eilish is also homeschooled. Even Thomas Edison, the light bulb inventor, and Agatha Christie, the detective novel writer, are homeschooled. If that's not enough to deny all those misconceptions about homeschooling, we don't know what is.
Families and parents of all kinds homeschool their kids. It doesn’t matter if they have one child, two, or three. It doesn't matter if there’s only one parent, two parents, or two full-time employed parents. On top of that, there are many reasons to homeschool kids, and everyone's family should do what suits them.
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