Does Homeschooling Provide a Valid Alternative to Formal Education in Schools?

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disadvantage to the idea of homeschooling, especially if a parent has children of different ages as it can be overwhelming teaching such a wide array of material, and some are simply not cut out for homeschooling temperamentally.

Another point generally made by those who disagree with homeschooling is that children who have been homeschooled sometimes end up with negative social repercussions. Schools teach children to communicate with their piers, and gives them a healthy sense of rivalry and competition, and this can be a serious flaw in the homeschooling system. Also, while it is mostly a negative thing when some children get bullied or get into fights in school, it is also character building and teaches children to stand up for themselves and how to be independent, allowing them to see themselves through the eyes of their peers. Critics may argue that formal schooling helps build character, develop a child’s independence and nurture the child’s relationship with others, while homeschooling simply alienates them from the world and leaves them ill-prepared to face the real world.

Finally, opposers bring up the fact that with the child being isolated from other children in this way, they become too reliant on their parents, and are denied in some way, their own individual method of thinking and set of beliefs. They believe that if a child is homeschooled, the constant exposure to their parents day in and day out would lead them to mimic some of their behavioural patterns and take on their beliefs, rather than being able to form their own individual opinions and beliefs through the space from their parents that formal education affords.

In conclusion, while supporters value the personalisation of tuition that homeschooling affords and that the idea removes the threat of peer pressure and the worry about inadequate schools. Those against argue that it limits the individuality of children and increases their reliance on their parents, as well as allowing the children to be ill-prepared - socially - for later life and depriving the homeschooler of a life. A point against homeschooling that was left unexamined however, is that while some parents may be perfectly adequate and able to teach their children, some parents who do not have the proper qualifications to teach their child or children as a teacher in a formal school would have, would not be able to homeschool to the same standard as a formal educative institution and the child would fall behind in studies. In all, it remains clear that homeschooling does not provide a valid alternative to formal education in schools.