As recently as 2021, nearly 7% of American households reported homeschooling at least one child. Statistics show that families choose to homeschool their children for a variety of reasons, including:
- Concerns about the school environment, like:
- Peer pressure
- Exposure to drugs and alcohol
- Safety issues
- A desire to emphasize family time
- A drive to provide a nontraditional educational approach to their children
- Accommodation of special needs or mental and physical illnesses
While homeschooling can help parents accomplish all of the above, there are certainly other homeschooling benefits to consider while crafting a personalized learning experience for your child. In this guide, we’re exploring a brief overview of homeschooling and breaking down ten advantages of homeschooling for children and their families.
Homeschooling: An Ever-Changing Education Model
The homeschooling model has changed significantly over time. While some parents still design their own curricula for their children (or combine a few existing curricula to create a custom learning plan), many take advantage of today’s more structured online learning opportunities, like:
- Programs offered through a local public school system (like Florida’s FLVS)
- Curricula from an international institution (like the International Baccalaureate)
- Dual enrollment courses from a college or university
- Programs offered by private schools and other learning institutions
10 Benefits of Homeschooling
There are a variety of homeschooling benefits no matter which model parents and students choose. Let’s break down some of the advantages of learning at home.
#1 Customized Curriculum
One of the clearest benefits of homeschooling is the ability to craft a customized curriculum for your child (or children).
You can create a curriculum adapted to your child’s:
- Special needs – If your child is highly advanced, struggles in some subjects, or has a disability, you can create a homeschooling curriculum tailor-made for their abilities.
- Learning goals – If your child has unique learning goals (like learning to use drafting software for a future career), you can incorporate those goals into their learning plan.
- Career aspirations – Perhaps your child dreams of becoming a professional chef; you can tailor their curriculum to teach them critical career readiness skills.
#2 Individual Attention
Another benefit of homeschooling is the small class size. Even if you partner with another family or enroll your child in a small online learning program, you have more control over student-teacher ratios in a homeschooling environment.
Teachers overwhelmingly argue that class sizes can impact kids’ educational progress, behavior, and achievement.
Choosing homeschooling is an excellent way to control the number of students in your child’s classroom—and their class size ratio.
#3 Integration of Play-Based Learning
The University of New Hampshire provides a definition for play-based learning:
“Play-based learning, specifically guided play, maintains the joy of free play while allowing children to connect authentically with content… Children naturally learn through play by engaging in and making sense of their world. Guided play is self-chosen, enjoyable, and process-oriented.”
Depending on your state, play-based learning may simply not be a priority in your public school system (or your local network of private and charter schools). If you have a vision for how your child can learn through play, you can cultivate that in a homeschooling environment.
#4 Life Skills Curricula
In addition to traditional academic subjects, homeschooling parents can incorporate life skills into their curricula. For some families, these might include:
- Cooking
- Cleaning
- Basic car repair
- Managing finances
- Etiquette and manners
- Sewing, tailoring, or mending
These can be difficult to teach in a traditional classroom environment. While life skills classes like home economics are making a comeback in some public schools, this isn’t true for every state.
Homeschooling gives parents the opportunity to impart critical life skills to their children as part of their education.
#5 Career Readiness
While we briefly mentioned career readiness above, homeschooling parents are in a unique position to prepare their children for their future careers—especially students who don’t need a traditional college degree to get their dream job. Let’s explore a hypothetical:
Perhaps your child expresses a desire to become an electrician. Electricians don’t need to attend a university, but some attend trade schools or training programs.
In addition to teaching traditional academic subjects, you could:
- Enroll your child in age-appropriate courses about electrical concepts and skills
- Partner your teen with a licensed electrician for shadowing and job training
- Enter your child into an apprenticeship program before they graduate
#6 Mental Health
Whether your child has an existing mental health issue or you’re looking for an educational model that will accommodate their general mental health, homeschooling is an excellent option.
You can incorporate mental health awareness into your home education curriculum by:
- Letting students take an age-appropriate number of breaks
- Fostering emotional and mental health literacy at home
- Incorporating sessions with a licensed mental health counselor into your child’s routine
- Teaching children lessons in empathy and self-awareness
#7 Independence and Autonomy
Depending on your desired level of involvement in your child’s homeschooling, you can create an educational experience that’s as self-guided as your child needs it to be (or their development level demands).
Homeschooling can help children become self-starters with independence and autonomy. Giving your children the freedom to complete learning tasks on their own schedule (when developmentally appropriate) can help them develop self-regulation skills that help them stay focused on tasks.
#8 Community Involvement
Many people criticize homeschooling’s tendency to isolate children from other kids their own age. But just because this is a reality for many homeschooled children doesn’t mean that you have to cultivate this kind of social life for your homeschooled child.
As a homeschooling parent, you can incorporate social activities into your child’s life, like:
- Youth events (like story time at your local library)
- Community service work
- Municipal or travel sports teams
- Special interest groups (like chess club or a book club)
#9 Physical Health
Homeschooling can also provide students with more time to care for their physical health by:
- Incorporating daily exercise into their learning time
- Making time to play individual or team sports
- Offering more time for self-care and proper hygiene
- Eating healthy meals cooked at home
Your child’s physical health is just as important as their education; you can prioritize your child’s physical well-being in the homeschooling format with ease.
#10 Accommodating Alternative Schedules and Lifestyles
If you’re a military family, move frequently to accommodate one or more parents’ careers, or care for aging relatives in your home, a traditional school setting simply might not make sense for your family’s lifestyle.
Homeschooling gives you an opportunity to protect your child’s education no matter where, when, and how they learn. Instead of uprooting your child from their school when you have to move mid-year, your child can simply pick up their studies in their new location as soon as they’re ready.
Homeschooling Opens Doors for Children and Their Parents
There are numerous benefits of homeschooling: creating customized curricula, accommodating mental health needs, and offering your child unique social opportunities are just a few.
If you’re thinking about homeschooling your child, remember that your education is just as important as theirs (especially if you’re planning on assuming a teaching role in your child’s life). Make sure to do your research on homeschooling to prepare yourself for your new responsibilities.
Homeschooling can open doors for your family; it can provide an enriching educational experience for your child that will benefit them throughout their life.
