By: Cara McIntosh, age 13
Have you ever noticed that there are disadvantages to public school? For example, the kids are only around their parents and siblings maybe 4 hours each day, and much of that time is spent watching TV or playing video games. And some hardly pay attention to most subjects; they just learn enough to get by. But there are many different benefits to homeschooling. Although it may not seem like much fun or very easy, children are highly assisted by it.
For one thing, if I want to go on a family trip, I can bring my schoolwork with me and homeschool in the car! And if anybody gets done early, no problem. They can do fun stuff. Our family calls that ‘free time.’ It’s nice that we still can go places and be flexible during the school year.
Another advantage is that a lot of kids behave better if their parents are around almost the entire time, which is the case with homeschooling. Of course, that’s because they can get better disciplined. They get along better with their siblings, and they are not as fussy over the age difference among their friends. That means homeschooling not only affects one’s academic life but their behavioral life, too.
It’s like we have our own personal tutor because anytime we want, we can ask Mom questions about our schoolwork! And since she knows exactly what we’re learning for our lessons, she can help us apply things like math concepts to real life! Additionally, when a mom is the teacher, she relearns things that kinda fade away after school. It’s more effective to learn this way than the typical school way.
All of these good reasons – a teacher all to yourself, better-behaved children, and ‘car’ schooling – are extremely helpful to your child’s later life on top of their life still living at home. Who cares if it’s challenging, or time consuming, or anything else? The point of teaching kids is not to leave them up to somebody else to take care of, but to “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” -Proverbs 22:6
