By Katherine William
Homeschooling is a concept that dictates a lot among students; it teaches them about independently growing up and learning the ability to quickly comprehend what they are taught in a much shorter time. If students usually go to schools, early in their teen age they depend on people to assist them in learning. However, in homeschooling, students obtain a lot more independent behavior. Having said that, students going to school are more open to the world outside the home compared to the students who learn behind the doors of their homes. Parents face this dilemma of whether to send their teenage kids to schools or consider the option of homeschooling, in order to mentally prepare them for the kind of learning and challenges they will be exposed to in their lives. Our discussion today will feature some of the advantages and disadvantages of teenage homeschooling.
Freedom of Education
Students, when involved in homeschooling, have the advantage to learn what they like. When you go to a school, your teen is confined to a strict timetable and subjects that have been the traditions and curriculum of the school setting for years. Homeschooling gives you the freedom to educate in the most creative and interesting ways, as well as learn whatever your teen feels most strongly about and finds interesting. This freedom to learn is extremely important, especially during the high school stages of your academic life as it allows you to explore lots of new skills and talent that your teen might not be able to recognize while attending a set and strict schedule.
Absence of Peer Pressure
When you send your teens out of your homes, whether it’s a school or the outside world, peer pressure is something that is bound to come. Your teens will make friends and they will have their own lives and living. This is surely going to have an impact on your teen in terms of ideas and what he learns. Especially when as a teenager you are growing and exploring yourself, you tend to get affected by all these things a lot. Not sending your kid to school and preferring homeschooling will save your teenage child from excess peer pressure early on in their teens. You get the time to prepare your child on how to combat such pressures of society, and let him mentally grow in order to be in a better capacity to avoid such hazards.
Too Much Dependency on Parents
On the other hand, one of the biggest disadvantages of your homeschooling idea is the fact that your teen boy or girl is not exposed to the early challenges of the outside world. During the school going age, they are confined to parental supervision and their comfort zones, which can prove to be a habit difficult to let go of when the time comes. Depending on parents can be the worst thing happening to a growing teenager as their progress eventually becomes difficult if they do not learn the art of being independent.
Living Outside the Normal Zone
When most teenagers are preparing to attend high schools and set a new chapter in their lives, homeschooled teens are usually still going through their everyday lives. This means most of the people are following a common tradition while you are not. But as a homeschooling teen your independent study habits will help prepare you for going to college later. So even though you might not be following the same path as everyone else, you are free to start your own traditions.
Author Bio: Katherine William actively contributes to custom paper writing service and has given valuable advices to lots of parents on the topic of school problems and homeschooling.