Nowadays, some parents prefer homeschooling to formal education. Although this has several benefits, the drawbacks are far more significant.
On the one hand, it is undeniable that there are some minor advantages of teaching children at home. One prominent merit is that homeschooling develops stronger familial bonds between parents and progeny. Staying at home allows adolescents to have an abundance of time with their mothers and fathers. On that account, the parents play an active role in regularly checking on their offspring’s activities and sharing with them various experiences. An additional benefit is that parents who teach children at home can personalize the curriculum according to the child’s competence. For instance, in some Western countries where homeschooling is popular and authorized, parents devise flexible schedules to foster the child’s talent in different subjects such as Math, Art, etc. The juveniles, therefore, can focus on the subjects that they are interested in as well as take part in several activities.
Nevertheless, even though homeschooling can be beneficial, there are underlying issues that overshadow its advantages. First and foremost, an obvious downside is that the children potentially have a deficiency in social skills. Many researches have shown that social interactions play a vital role in children’s development. For toddlers who study at home, thus, this type of education deprives them of making new friends and limits their perspectives on the differences between people. Moreover, another disadvantage worth mentioning is that homeschooled children struggle to obtain legitimate qualifications to enroll in tertiary educational institutions. For instance, in Vietnam, the parents or guardians hold no authority to provide homeschooling diplomas. Most of the certificates are issued by the authorized educational ministry, so homeschooling may cause children trouble when they try to get into universities.
In conclusion, the fact that educating children at home instead of sending them to school comes with considerable merits and demerits. For all the mentioned explanations, there are more drawbacks that need to be taken into account.