The decision to homeschool is a big one, and there is a lot of thought that parents put into the process. Homeschooling can be a great option, and one that works for many families. If you are in the deciding stages of whether or not to homeschool, then this is for you. Here are some thoughts about the pros and cons of some of the main areas of consideration when it comes to homeschooling.
Socialization
The first question that is almost always asked of any homeschooler is, “What about socialization?” It seems to be a big fear of many individuals that homeschooled children will be shut off from the real world, and not become comfortable around others in the same way that children in public school will.
In fact, homeschooled children have proven to be highly socialized. The advantage of homeschooling in light of socialization is learning in an atmosphere that is mainly free of bullying and peer pressure. They have friendships, learn to work with others and become valuable and contributing members of society just like children in any form of schooling. Of course, if you have a small family, you may need to search a little more diligently to find children their age to play with, but this is becoming easier as more and more homeschool support groups create organized functions where children can meet together regularly.
Schooling at home can be a haven for a child who has been bullied. Many children who had a tough time in public school succeed once they are away from the distractions and fear of bullies. Homeschooling can be both a short- and long-term solution if this is the situation your child is currently facing. And although socialization among peers is often pushed as an all-important goal, many homeschooled children do the bulk of their socialization with a wide variety of ages, which enriches their life experience and helps them learn to socialize even among non-peers.
Further Education and Work
Homeschooled children go to college and university just like other kids. Although some schools used to be hesitant about homeschooling when it was uncommon, most of them now accept homeschoolers, and some have even requested that homeschoolers apply there.
If your child is in high school, be sure to check your local requirements about what a child needs in order to be considered as a graduate from high school. Although there are often alternative ways to enter college and university, it helps to have the right papers and can also save you a little trouble in the short term.
When homeschooled children want jobs after graduation, they are often benefitted by the fact that they were able to volunteer when they were younger, due to having free time that public school students didn’t. Homeschool students’ comfort with self-directed learning also gives them an edge.
Opportunities for Extracurricular Experiences
Do homeschooled children have opportunities to take part in extracurricular activities? Absolutely, and many homeschooled children are even more involved than what is common. This is often because of the fact that unlike public school students, homeschooled children are not exhausted after being away from home all day and therefore have the energy and time needed to seek out different activities.
Ultimately, the decision whether to homeschool or not is in your hands. Discuss all important aspects, and inquire about info from anyone you know who currently does this themselves. In time you will find your answer about whether homeschooling is the right journey for you and your child.
Online Education Help for Your Child
We all need extra help sometimes. If your child is having difficulty in their classroom learning, there are many online resources to assist them in their educational journey. Here are a few places to look when you want to find help for your student of any age.
Educational Websites
When your child is learning the basics of their education, there are many websites that are helpful in grasping and embracing new concepts. Free websites such as Starfall are fun and easy for your child to navigate. Your child can explore this particular website and play a variety of games that will teach them concepts such as letter recognition, spelling, and phonics. On Cool Math you can help your child access whatever they are currently learning in math and needing help with, for a straightforward explanation of each principle.
The internet is being an essential tool throughout this chaotic period
Links:
Starfall - http://starfall.com/
Cool Math - http://coolmath.com/
Online Games That Teach
There are plenty of games that aren’t necessarily intended for the purpose of education, but can be used as such by any parent with a little creativity. Minecraft is one website that is extremely popular with elementary and middle-school age children. On it, the user builds structures out of blocks made of a variety of supposed materials. Use this website and others like it to help your child learn math concepts such as addition, multiplication, and learning how to find the area or volume of spaces.
YouTube
Believe it or not, this popular video website is a great addition to any educational program for any age of child. No matter what your child is struggling with or needing extra help with in school, you will be sure to find YouTube videos that explain the concepts well. Because anyone can upload videos onto YouTube, use caution when on this site, and be sure to preview any videos before your child watches them.
One of the positive factors is the physical distance that aims to prevent the spread of the virus
Tutoring by Skype
Another great advantage of our era of readily available technology is being able to connect with a live person when online. If your child needs tutoring but you are short on time or are unable to drive to a tutor at another location, set up tutoring by Skype. Hire someone for this specific purpose, or enlist the help of a family member or friend whose strength lies in the area that your child needs help in. You can even do a trade for a service you can offer the tutor in order to keep the cost down.
Homeschooling
If you have chosen homeschooling as the method in which your child will be educated, there are several ways for you to use online education as your main method of delivery. There are many homeschool programs that use the internet for teaching. Your child can do anything from a simple online class, to courses, to certain areas of study, to completing their entire education online. Choose whatever combination works best for you, your child, and your particular family situation.
Now that we live in the age of technology, we should make use of it when possible. When it comes to your child’s education, the sky is the limit. Online education help is readily available, and the best is yet to come.
Conclusion
With the closure of schools and the cancellation of face-to-face classes due to coronavirus prevention measures, teachers and parents have a new challenge ahead of them. Online education can be an answer. However, it will not be an easy answer. In some countries, such as the United States, almost all universities already have the necessary platforms and tools for teachers to teach and students to learn and be assessed at a distance. However, this still does not happen very often, and even less so in basic and secondary education. That said, the knowledge about the best tools , the best strategies and the effects of online education , particularly in non-university educationit is scarce . But let's see what the existing research says about the best way to take advantage of online education .
In 2015, Morton Ann Gernsbacher published a synthesis paper arguing that online education can be beneficial if it is based on fundamental learning principles that are generally valid . This idea seems to gather a broad consensus.
For example, if online education translates into shorter and more frequent learning sessions , it can help to better understand concepts. In fact, classical research in memory indicates that frequent and properly spaced repetition tends to increase learning (Underwood, 1961). This notion is similar to the idea that practice distributed over time leads to more effective learning than concentrated practice (Benjamin & Tullis, 2010). It appears that this benefit occurs in students of all ages (Seabrook 2005). Therefore, short but frequent online classes can really help students a lot.
Another possible benefit of online education is to allow each student to choose, within certain limits, the time they study , taking advantage of the time of day when they will benefit most from viewing a recorded lesson or accessing support materials - various scientific studies they show that each person has certain times of the day during which their attention, memory, and understanding are most acute (May, 1999; Natale & Lorenzetti, 1997). In particular, teenagers can benefit most from learning episodes in the late afternoon, after the traditional school day (Kim 2002, American Academy of Pediatrics , 2014).
According to Gernsbacher (2015), online education, or at least with online support, can help students explore the topics of study more deeply than they would just do in a traditional class , since they have all the information on the internet at your service. The availability of so much information can also, if correctly oriented, encourage critical thinking by students, who will have to select the relevant and correct information 1 and use learning strategies that increase the assimilation of concepts. But, as always, nothing is guaranteed and the teacher's accompaniment is decisive in everything .
The use of videos and videoconferencing , which are also possibilities of online education, can reduce the disadvantages of non-classroom teaching , helping to maintain some social interaction that is so important in the classroom. Gernsbacher (2015) gives an example of how it involves students from Psychology classes in higher education that gives online: each student writes about 85 posts during a semester (the equivalent of a five-page work per week, for 15 weeks); some of these posts are read and revised by the teacher, but most of them are read by the other students. Thus, online education can increase students' reading and written production(Gernsbacher, 2014), as well as training them to write for diverse audiences, improving their ability to use writing to communicate. In fact, writing for the internet can increase grammatical and syntactic correction (Gaddis et al., 2000).