Is homeschooling good or bad?

The homeschooling system has been an enriching and overwhelming positive for certain families. It has become popular just like current parents choosing over private or public schools. According to the article the percentage of children who are home schooled in NSW has increased up to 65 per cent in four years. There has been an increase from 1703 in July 2008 to 2802 in July 2012. Parents choose home schooling over sending children to school therefore over the same period, the school population of NSW only grew by less than 3 per cent. (Tovey. J.2013)

There are various reasons and motivations that triggers parents to decide whether to home educate their children or not. Many parents home school their children because of religious matter and bullying issues as the article mentions "bullying, philosophical objections to schooling and a desire for personal learning as reasons for rejecting formal educations" (Tovey. J.2013). Children who are bullied at school hesitates to be at school and have a strong sense of rejection so it is heart breaking for parents to send them school. According to Remeikis' news article, bullying prompted Brisbane mother Linda Richardson to look at home education for her step-daughter. (Remeikis. A 23 June 2013). "She was in grade 10 at the time she really struggling with high school and the whole bullying issue and i am a registered teacher and at the time I wasn't working, so I said 'Well, I am a teacher, I am at home, do you want to do home school?" Ms Richard Said. The advantage of home schooling is they get to enjoy and study at a flexible environment with comfortable people which allows them to progress further at a comfortable pace. Especially for those children who are bullied for certain reasons, they are distracted by people around them, rather feel scared to be in a crowd and would not be able to learn. They also can save time and money as they don't need to travel and spend money on tuition fee.


But I certainly think there must be disadvantages to home schooling. Major problem is socializing problem as school is a place where you take your first step to learn how to socialize and interact with people. By staying away and running away from people may lack essential social skill and might be bullied even more in the future for not being able to fit in. Also, regardless of how well educated the parents is and unless they have been trained and hold qualifications as a teacher they will not be able to teach as efficiently as as a trained professional teacher would. I am also worried that there might be a danger for the kids to regret missing out on school experience and not be able to relate their experience with other children.


There are pros and cons to home schooling and I believe it is not a light decision for parents to make. I think it is purely up to the children's decision. For instance, if they are in a situation to strongly neglect public education and is really in need of home schooling, then that is totally fine. But if the parents want to keep them at home simply because they want them to be safe and keep an eye on them all day, that is definitely the most stressing thing for the child.


Reference


http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/10/18/3872392.htm?site=goldfields


http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/home-schooling-up-65-in-four-years-20130907-2tcj8.html


http://www.smh.com.au/national/home-schooling-a-positive-choice-20130622-2opo8.html