Homeschooling can help your child develop a great work ethic – and 3 other reasons why you should.
Over the last year, there has been much talk about homeschooling due to the impact of the pandemic on mainstream education. For many, the pandemic has led to a re-analysis of what education means for them and their children. The need to adapt to other forms of learning has pushed all of us to consider alternative ways of educating our children and made us realise that true education should not be confined to what we traditionally know as a ‘school’.
I must add a disclaimer though that although a number of parents have taken this great but uncertain leap, I know that for many others, this new terrain in education is a scary one and it will take a little longer before they are convinced that education, like the world, can never be the same.
Parents who have taken the leap of faith into alternative schooling, even if doing so temporarily until a new normality is achieved, have done so for many reasons that form part of the benefits of home schooling:
- The ability to provide their children with schooling that allows them to learn at their own pace and their difficulty level. This does not mean that the child becomes lazy. No, quite the contrary, the child develops a work ethic they can sustain because it is not dictated to by the school bell and traditional school hours. They develop their own standards and work each day to meeting those standards.
- The flexibility that comes with homeschooling. For many, the idea of homeschooling elicits thoughts of hours of having to monitor their child’s work vs. the flexibility that comes with where the child learns and when they learn. As learners grow older, some realise how effective they are in the late afternoon vs. the early mornings for example. Homeschooling allows learners to create a structure that helps them be effective in their studies. It stops being about the hours of school, but the productivity in those hours.
- Lastly, Options. If there is anything I love about homeschooling, it is the increased choices it allows the parents. From the choice of the curriculum to the mode of learning (online or hybrid), to using an academic support provider like Rutega Learning Hubs, or even where and when the child can complete their extra-curricula activities. Options. Ones that take into consideration your child’s developmental needs, interests, and envisaged world view.
Whatever your reasons are for choosing, or not choosing, to homeschool your child, the important thing is that you have a choice. At every stage of your child’s development, you know that when it comes to their education, you are not limited to the limits of mainstream private and public schools. Take the time to consider your own views about education and what it is you truly want for your child. Whatever you do, we implore you, do not not make a decision.