Homeschooling Vs Traditional Schooling

Education is of vital essence in our world today, with most focus directed to making sure all individuals get access to education. Many parents are putting a lot of effort in getting the best education for their kids, as long as they can afford so that they can be successful. One of the most controversial topics in education today is whether traditional schooling or homeschooling is better and if both are equals. Many people have argued against homeschooling because of variety of reasons.

For most parents, traditional schooling is the norm for the society, although some have different views and prefer homeschooling. They are the best way for the future as it provides student centered education, that is adaptive to the needs of the students. This paper seeks to discuss on traditional and homeschooling, and while both have a main goal of producing the best performances, they quite differ in terms of meeting the child’s needs, the learning environment, physical activities, and the aspect of socializing.

Traditional schooling is the oldest educational system that has preferences to homeschooling by some people. The traditional schooling is also termed as public schooling, and the cost for learning here are much less compared to homeschooling. This is because the government pays most of the tuition fees, and the parents are left with little responsibilities like buying uniform’s and maintaining their kids. This kind of education system favor’s all the children from humble and rich backgrounds. Besides that, in public schooling, the level of student socialization is high. The children meet with many kids from diverse background from all parts of the region. From this, they get to know and interact with each other, although their cultural and languages differ. In addition, public schooling sponsors most of extra-curricular activities like sporting, club, and participating in bands, that widens the experience of the kid, making them grow healthy and with enough confidence.

Every child learns, listens and watches different concepts differently (Lips, 2008). Not all of them learn at the same pace. Considering this, homeschooling can be the best as it has many benefits. One of the benefits is; there is a child-based curriculum, tailored to specific needs of the child. This curriculum captures the interest of the child, like for instance, if the child is interested in farming or engineering, they would only be thought specific subjects. In farming, mathematic subject can be thought since there are some calculations like determining the area of land and how much crop can be planted. Traditional schooling on the other hand has one curriculum per class, and the ratio of students to teachers can vary greatly. Some of the students in this curriculum can lose focus easily as they are not drawn to the system. Which if the students could have the curriculum designed specifically to them, they might have a better enjoyment and focus to their education leading to more academic achievements.

Another main factor in learning is the type of environment. The environmental settings can have a great influence to the education of the child and their academic achievements. In comparing the two educational systems, it is evident that pubic schooling could have much more distractions compared to homeschooling. For instance, social peers and popularity contests can bring many distractions to the full potential of the child. For this reason, there is a rise in homeschooling as the parents have increased concerns of their children’s welfare, like peer pressure, academic quality, and violence. Children in homeschooling on the other hand have a very comfortable environment that could lead the students to have a better concentration in academics. Evidence from research suggests the same, and looking at a study by Dr. Lawrence Rudner from Maryland University, the percentage of students achieving well in academics are high in homeschooling, and are about 70th to 80th percentile. (Snyder, 2011). From this study, it is evident that there is immense difference between traditional schooling and homeschooling. The environmental factors have their own benefits, but considering the children produced in homeschooling, they are brilliant and later on successful. Seemingly, not having social distractions like those in public schools’ benefits children who are homeschooling, and they have better odds of academic achievements.

Do the students achieve this much with just pen and paper? Of course not, as there has been a rise in technology that have played a bigger role in the education of the children. Currently, technology is advancing in our world, and homeschooling have become more popular approach in education. Although we cannot question the effectiveness of traditional education, as some are still effective, homeschooling has become the best approach in this case. (Andrade, 2008). It shows best results and its curriculum caters for the needs of the child. In technological advancement, this system can allow the children to access computers used for streaming important information and downloading study software. In some, the students can participate in virtual classrooms, where they meet at scheduled time to discuss ideas and concepts and in the process improving education. Although technological advancements are making approach to traditional schools, they are doing it slow and homeschooling has its claws in technology. It has been documented that it is effective and has shown great strides. With any problem, there can always be improvements and upgrades. We would still be patient to see the improvement of technology in our public schools.

Traditional schooling has many challenges, both to the teachers and to the parents. The parents would constantly worry about the safety of their children, while on the other hand, the teachers have a big work load as they are involved with a higher ratio of children. The high number of children makes it hard to ascertain if they effectively learn. The parents have no accountability to the actions of their kids. Some of the kids might get into fights or get an injury, but the only concern put by the parents are the whereabouts of the teacher. This is not that much effective compared to homeschooling where there is a great deal of advantages. In this setting, the parents have total dedication to their children’s activities. They would be committed in following the kid’s academic progress. Compared to traditional schooling, the performances and grades of the children would always be much ahead. This is because they give much attention to their subjects and they have immediate access to their ‘teachers.’

In meeting the child’s needs, public schools are no better than homeschooling. Most of the child’s necessities and needs can be comfortably met at a home setting compared to public school. Besides, there is family togetherness, where every child grows practicing family values and cultures, and in the process getting rooted to these practices of maintaining discipline, respect and many positive values in the society. In the family, most chores are done together, where one helps the other to achieve a purpose. This in essence is an essential part in the child’s learning. The child is given the opportunity to show his best roles and worth to the family, and in the process making the child feel part and parcel of the family.

Over the years, most of the parents have adopted homeschooling for their kids. There have been rise in controversial topics concerning the same, regarding the effectiveness of the approach to education. In evaluating the effectiveness, we find that that homeschooling is the way for the future. It offers student centered education adaptive to the needs of the individual. It allows the curriculum to be developed according to specific needs of the child and the parents, as well as providing the best environment for best academic achievements. The evolvement of technology has even made it easier as it is easy to track academic work of the child. (Andrade, 2008). Though both traditional schooling and homeschooling posses a lot of similarities and dissimilarities, their differences exceed their similarities. Looking at all the factors surrounding education, currently homeschooling might seem to be the best option for its results. (Isenberg, 2007). In the other hand, traditional schooling is still adored by the majority of the society, as some lack the resources and time to offer homeschooling. I think that when it comes to making the decision, it would be the individual choice to decides on what’s necessary, not forgetting the benefits and delimits of each choice. But as time unfolds, the question still remains, what’s best for our students?

In summing up the quality of education is essential for the country and for the type of developments the county would have. Therefore, much focus should be made towards attaining quality education, whether in traditional schools or home schools. Funds and resources should be directed towards attaining this. The quality off education homeschooling brags with makes it more advantageous to public schools. This implies that this educational system should be much preferred and adopted wherever possible. The greatest investment a parent can make is educating his child. Education comes with more returns and rewards than we can ever imagine. The aim is to produce competent and knowledgeable professionals who would provide solutions to most challenges in the society.

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