Homeschool vs. Public School: Which Is Best For Your Child

Anna Smith

6 years ago

One of the many choices you have to make as a parent is where to educate your child. The two most common choices are sending your child to public school or deciding to keep them home and homeschool where you can choose what and how to teach them. Each option comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages, and the decision ultimately comes down to deciding which schooling option is for you depends on the needs of your child.

Benefits of Homeschooling

Homeschooling offers an opportunity to choose how to teach your child through an individualized approach. You can try various approaches to learning and utilize the one that works best for your child to master the subject. Children can move at their own pace instead of going with a pre-established curriculum from the school district. It’s acceptable for them to take a bit longer to master specific subjects and breeze right through others. There is a lot more flexibility with homeschooling to make your schedule suitable for family vacations or other obligations and allow your child to pursue subjects they’re interested in instead of being bound to a state curriculum. Mental illness is also on the rise for a lot of teens, usually due to negative thinking, bullying, cyberbullying, and the heavy use of social media. Having your child at home could help decrease the amount of time they spend in tense classroom settings and let you impact their use of technology. You can seek to spend more time with your child this way to help them feel a little less alone as well. You can take more breaks if you need, follow a traditional school schedule, or maintain year-long schooling if it’s a better fit for your family’s needs. Do be aware that you’ll need to avoid any instances of favoritism if you have any more children – you can absolutely do it with homeschooling, you just have to plan it well.

Benefits of Public Schooling

Public schooling is another option available to you. It’s more affordable to send your children to public school because you don’t have to purchase the curriculum. Public schools also have certified and educated teachers who know the subjects and how to teach the concepts to the majority of students. The way public school is set up fosters socialization to help kids interact with their peers and work with others on cooperative projects. They also offer a variety of extracurricular activities such as sports or special interest clubs to encourage your child to branch out and pursue other interests.

Benefits of Hybrid Public Schooling

You also have the choice of using an online public school like K12 that provides the curriculum, teachers, and classmates, but in an online format. K-8 has an independent study track perfect for kids that learn at their own pace, either faster or slower than traditional students. High school is a little more structured but there are still options for every student’s needs.

Schooling isn’t something that you can approach with a one-size-fits-all view. Every child is an individual and what works for one might not be suitable for another. Both homeschooling and public schooling have their advantages and disadvantages that make them ideal for some situations and less-than-ideal in others. You need to examine your situation, the needs of your child, and what you feel the best option is to give your child the education that they require and deserve.