Homeschooling vs Public Schools: Best Alternative Education Methods in 2023
Education in the 21st century has homeschooling as one of the best options for parents over public school. Parenting comes with tons of decision-making, and a child’s education is one of them. When pitching homeschooling vs. public schools, which do you prefer for your kids?
As a parent, you want to be sure that you are making your child’s education the right choice. One such selection includes alternative learning for the best quality of education.
However, parents look beyond public and private school systems as the varying learning capacity of children. Simply put, what works for a particular child may not work for another.
As parents, your choices are now beyond limits. On the one hand, homeschooling is an alternative to traditional public or private schools.
“Education is not learning the facts, but the training of the mind to think.”
– Albert Einstein
In recent times, traditional schooling has come under scrutiny and pressure, ranging from cost to effectiveness. Global events have tipped the baton further from traditional education towards credible alternatives.
In other words, there is an increase in the momentum of continued debates regarding the form of the most-effective teaching.
Modern-day individuals are searching for more accommodating alternatives to schools, and homeschooling is a perfect option. Furthermore, it provides an entirely different opposition to the traditional public school.
This article will compare homeschooling with traditional schooling, particularly public school. In this case, the method will involve examining the pros and cons of both forms of education. This article centers on homeschooling vs. public schools.
What is Homeschooling?
Homeschooling is the act of educating or training your child at home. Alternatively, you can refer to it as ‘home education.’ Homeschooling is continually legally gaining ground in several parts of the world, including Canada, the US, and the UK.
Therefore, there are several reasons parents choose not to admit their children to public schools; here are a few reasons.
Why Parents Choose Homeschooling vs. Public Schools
- Naturality. Homeschooling for preschool serves as a safety net for infants in a better way than public schools. In other words, this system is as natural to children as breastfeeding is to their health.
- Unique Curriculum. Lack of satisfaction with the traditional curriculum. In other words, there is more flexibility over the creation of the curriculum in the homeschooling system.
- Control. Besides, there is complete control over the cost of homeschooling. Parents can employ homeschooling practically free through different resources. Moreover, the available resources include the web, library, museums, and educational supplies.
- Religion. Furthermore, the family might have religious beliefs contrary to that in public schools. Therefore, religion can be an important reason why parents opt for homeschooling over traditional schooling.
- Special Education. Homeschooling may provide a place for more emphasis on the needs of children with special needs.
- Traveling. Families whose work requires travels and have no permanent resident are more comfortable with homeschooling. In other words, the flexibility of homeschooling can give an advantage to families with changing locations.
- More time. Homeschooling eradicates every possible logistics issue, including transport, and children have more time. As a result, homeschooling has that benefit over public school systems.
Despite being one of the alternative forms of education, it remains one of the oldest forms of global knowledge. By the way, homeschooling existed before the advent of public schooling with the enactment of compulsory attendance.
Before formal schooling, family members or designated tutors conducted child education. This method ensures all necessary bonds and emotional development for parents, and children become more comfortable at home. The parent will consider the pros and cons of homeschooling vs. public school study.
Homeschooling for Preschool and Kindergarten
The building starts from laying the foundation, and the preschool is that foundation. Therefore, as parents yearn to provide an alternative to learning, preschool activities have their peculiarities. Homeschooling shows better advantages vs. public schools.
For instance, little children learn through a fun-based curriculum that adequately passes helpful information. Are there particular values you want to give to your students that public schools cannot offer? The first question is, what are the principal values you want your kids to learn? Next, what are the steps to follow to achieve your aims?
Useful Steps to Follow
- Start to develop their reading ability by recognizing the alphabet, including their sounds. Besides, children should be able to match the upper cases with their respective lower issues. Parents may employ some games that contain the sound of letters or use familiar objects in the home.
- At the very minimum, the preschool period should involve children combining letters. Parents may choose to start with their names. For instance, parents may use a sand or salt tray and ask them to try out some simple letters.
- Focus on some of their fine motor skills, which include their ability to hold pencils. At this point, do not rush them by forcing them a particular way. Let the kids flow with their instincts in choice of hands and eye coordination. Needless to say that they are fond of a lot of distractions at this age.
- Another essential skill is developing preschool maths through fun play as the kids identify numbers and attempt to add some counting skills on little objects. Besides, kids should begin to learn measurements through the difference between object sizes. For instance, they should tell which item is bigger or smaller.
- Other items of homeschooling kids at preschool include the use of shapes, colors, and diverse vocabulary. Besides, they should learn to start calling at least two-letter words.
- Do not leave out life skills like an apology, independent play, tell direction, cleaning, share, wait, and take turns. Help them to follow multistep instructions from one-step to the next.
Homeschooling for High School
Due to the advanced years of high school students, it takes a different approach to younger children. Some of the typical areas of focus for high school students include the following:
- English writing includes essays.
- History and geography
- Mathematics includes applied math.
- Fine Arts
- Science
- Technology
- College preparation and design
Furthermore, parents should note that most high school students are entering their teenage years. As a result, parents should give more room for their liberty and respect for their choices.
In the comparison of homeschooling vs. public schools, parents should carefully consider the options. Some of the steps below will help parents figure out how to do it.
- Sit down with your teen to plan the high school journey.
- Choose the appropriate courses and curriculum to suit your child.
- Both of you should design some project-based courses.
- Add credit rewards to each level of the journey to create motivation.
- Give room for special learning needs in all the categories of learning.
- Ensure you keep all necessary records of the journey
- Coach them in writing essays according to acceptable standards, especially for college
- Employ entertainment tools such as movies, books, workshops, seminars, and conferences, to pass vital messages and virtues
- Please encourage them to enroll in online courses with certifications.
- Finally, high schoolers should have mentors from whom they can learn through an apprenticeship system.
The Pros and Cons (Advantages & Disadvantages) of Homeschooling vs Public Schools
Advantages of Homeschooling
1. Flexible Curriculum
In homeschooling, there is complete control over taught knowledge to the child. Conversely, parents may also feel that the quality of education the child is getting is insufficient.
Besides, in public schools, knowledge may have enough details or may lack substance; this allows you to consider alternatives.
On the contrary, homeschooling lets you decide what the child will learn and when the child will know it. It may include more tailored subjects in the child’s interest and filter the topics for age relatability.
Also, parents can include family values, a situation that is impossible in public schools. In other words, you can also adopt tested teaching methods that best suits how the child learns. The learning style is entirely up to you; you can structure it to fit the child’s most dominant style.
2. Attention
The average size of a class in a public school is between 16 and 30. As a result, a public school teacher has to pay all the student’s attention in their study. On the contrary, parents often focus on only one child in homeschooling.
A public-school teacher cannot have all the time to focus on one student or pupil in need. However, in homeschooling, the child in focus gets help immediately. There may be more than one kid learning the same lessons leading to the parent’s divided attention.
Nevertheless, eventual attention is also better than no attention at all. In homeschooling, the teacher has an idea of the child’s abilities and shortcomings. The parent is free to dwell on any particular topic until the pupil builds a more in-depth understanding.
3. Learning for knowledge
A child learning in a public school environment needs good grades to move up to higher classes. As a result, it creates an atmosphere of competition for them to do better than their counterparts. Homeschooling vs. Public Schools is an essential consideration in making long-term career decisions.
This competition remains their focus to proceed to a higher institution. In other words, this learning method for grades might not be the most effective way. Conversely, this competition’s absence compels homeschooling children to focus more on learning to acquire knowledge.
Besides, these other kids also learn practical ways of applying and implementing acquired knowledge. For instance, research showed homeschooling students score higher in SAT than their high school counterparts.
4. Safe environment for learning
The world may be the right place, but evil people are lurking around and harming a child. School violence, exposure to drugs, sexual assaults, bullying, and all sort of ills are synonymous with public schools. However, homeschooling shelters your child from these evils to an extent.
5. Parent and child bonding
Homeschooling gives parents or guardians room to spend more time with their wards daily. This closeness alone creates a great bond and helps raise healthy children.
Furthermore, it creates an avenue to teach your child about societal norms, respect, personal boundaries, manners, morale, and human interaction.
6. Focus on the child’s talents
Homeschooling parents spend more time helping the child to develop any unique, innate talents they may possess. Besides, parents can focus on one subject in which the child already shows interest.
The child learns at his or her pace and prevents the issue of complete homework. Homeschooling children display a level of maturity compared to schoolchildren of the same age group.
Disadvantages of Homeschooling
1. Explaining to family and friends
In a family with no history of homeschooling, it is uncommon for parents to choose to homeschool over public schools. Therefore, you must always justify your reasons to unsympathetic family and friends about your decision.
Besides, there can be a common misguided notion among students that homeschooling kids are weird. Putting all these reasons together may give parents doubts about your decision. But with a careful evaluation of homeschooling vs. public schools, the choices are clearer and easier.
2. Socialization
Homeschooling children barely have social interactions with other kids of their age group and in public schools. Even if they do, they do not get the same experience as regular school kids.
Some of the benefits of regular schools occur in group assignments, field work, class projects, and class or school trips.
Human interactions, such as community activities, can also trigger such events. As a result, they do not have the required exposure to deal with certain people in the wider world.
3. Financial restrictions
To set up homeschooling education for your child, one of the parents might sacrifice a paid job. Alternatively, the parents may employ a home teacher, which reduces family income.
4. Lack of structure
Public schools are products of long-lasting, often revised, tested, and trusted structures. Furthermore, the curricula involve better planning, tested methodologies, and standardized assessments.
On the contrary, homeschooling parents have limited options in this area. The parent is solely responsible for the educational structure. As a result, there may be little involvement in extra-curricular activities such as team sports.
Top 20 Sites to Find Homeschooling Resources
The sites below are the most common platforms where you can find homeschooling resources of tremendous value:
- TED-Ed
- Khan Academy
- DuolingoÂ
- BrainPOPÂ
- Coursera and edX
- NASA for students
- Exploratorium
- Reading eggs
- Simple Homeschool
- Project Gutenberg
- Homeschool
- XtraMath
- The Learning Network
- Steve Spangler Science
- The Activity Mom
- HowToSmile
- PowerMyLearning
- DiscoveryEducation
- K12.com
- SpecialNeedsHomeschooling
Traditional Schooling: Public and Private Schools
A traditional/public school is a teacher-centered educational institution set up by the government. The teacher organizes and teaches the lessons by following standard rules for the structured academic program. Besides, homeschooling can adequately replace public schools under careful and objective comparison.
The government often funds public schools through taxes and other generated revenue or income. Besides, public schools are subject to both federal and state-mandated laws and regulations.
Simultaneously, private schools function like public schools with a few differences in structure. In private schools, individual parents must pay for their children’s access. As a result, it is relatively more expensive and independent of the government.
Advantages and Disadvantages (Pros & Cons) of Public/Private Schooling
The majority of the population favors traditional schooling. Therefore, it is the primary schooling system.
Advantages of Public Schooling
1. Extra-curricular activities
Public schools offer a variety of extra-curricular activities to pupils and students. As a result, almost all traditional schools carry out these activities.
Extra-curricular activities provide a platform for children to sharpen their skills and ability, influencing a professional career.
Besides, these activities may include sports and other electives such as arts and music. It builds a child’s morale and confidence.
2. Degree
A public degree is one of the reasons for attending public schools. A general assumption is that a degree from a traditional educational institution is precious around the world.
However, the primary benefit of a degree implies your capability and qualification in the line of study. Its accomplishment creates a sense of stability and overall happiness.
Moreover, a student from homeschooling structures can also write an external exam to achieve these feats.
3. Cope mechanism
The public school serves as a coping mechanism. In other words, children learn to cope with school difficulties without parent assistance. Those skills become valuable to them and prepare them for adult life.
4. Teachers’ qualification
Public school teachers must have a certain level of education qualification (education degree) and more experience working and teaching. This skill makes them suitable for teaching students.
5. Interdependence
The public school promotes a level of independence among pupils or students. In other words, it enables children to fend for themselves and keep track of class schedules. They also learn to get lunch day-to-day and transit from school home.
Furthermore, people have different opinions on issues, but the traditional classroom provides an avenue for interaction. No matter the child’s attitude, they will connect and make friends with someone.
6. Interaction
The students and teachers engage in classroom discussions on daily topics, another avenue for interaction. Besides, it creates an atmosphere of inclusion that encourages participation that can share knowledge. More so, homeschooling vs. public schools require objectivity and decision-making strategies.
7. Disciplined structure
Public school teaches discipline and punctuality to students. Classes begin and end at a definite period, repeatedly following the same rules every day. They also extend this same discipline is beyond the school environment.
Disadvantages of Public Schooling
1. Passive Learners
The traditional school system tends to breed more passive than active learners do. For instance, in public schools, teachers and books influence knowledge.
There is less effort from the students to strive to learn new ideas on their own. Besides, there are limits to materials and research work, not beyond the teacher’s knowledge.
2. Crowded Classes
One main disadvantage of the public schooling system is the issue of crowded classrooms. Irrespective of the school’s organization, individual students struggle to attend classes with 30 other students.
In other words, the crowd in some classes makes it difficult for students/pupils to respond. The teacher cannot attend to every student in the course on a one-on-one basis which implies a productivity limitation.
3. General Education
Public Schools run generalized education. However, students have different interests in life professions. For instance, the choices may include becoming lawyers, doctors, engineers, and artists, among others. Generalized education does not adequately serve this purpose.
This system forces students to follow the same curriculum. It might be useful for some pupils/students, but it is unnecessary for others. In other words, the system creates knowledge over a complete number of topics but limits mastery.
In the end, choosing your choice of educational system depends on the situation. What works for your child might not be the best option for another child. Therefore, your job as a parent is to provide the best educational resources for your children.
Parents no longer find it difficult to believe there is an alternative to the public schooling system. The answer to the long-awaited question is Homeschooling education free. After evaluating all issues around homeschooling vs. public schools, the ball is now in your court.
Conclusion on Homeschooling vs. Public SchoolsÂ
Homeschooling is continually gaining acceptance, a practice that was strange several years ago. The fears and disappointments with the traditional education system keep people searching for credible alternatives. In other words, it is no longer a weird choice but a common one.
The required level of education is not a reason to stop seeking the alternative. Whether in a preschool, kindergarten, or high school, homeschooling is worth considering for all.
At the end of the homeschooling vs. public school evaluation, parents will still make the final decision.
In conclusion, the parents are responsible for deciding which system is the best for their kids. However, homeschooling inevitably provides a formidable alternative to the public school system.
Therefore, if you are searching for alternative education for more rapid development, homeschooling might be the way to go.
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