How Does Homeschooling Impact the Physical and Social Growth of an Individual by Kelly Everson
October 13, 2015Social Development Implications
Thinking that homeschooled students lack in social skills is a false assumption that individuals sometimes make when they don’t understand home-schooling. When you homeschool a child, he isn’t exposed to peer pressure, drugs, bullying, and other forms of violence that a traditional student may encounter.
The child who interacts more with family members than peers, according to the Family Education website, is more confident and has higher levels of self-respect and self-worth. While a homeschooler may interact more with siblings than peers during the day, they may be exposed to social activities like after-school clubs, scouting groups, groups for homeschoolers or classes and clubs in the community. The following are the social pros of homeschooling:
Emotional Freedom
Peer pressure, competition, boredom, and bullies are all part of a typical school day. This can be a particular problem for girls. Homeschooled kids can dress and act and think the way they want, without fear of ridicule or a need to "fit in." They live in the real world, where lives aren't dictated by adolescent trends and dangerous experimentation.
Closer Family Ties
Homeschooling plays a role in helping families find time to foster loving ties between all family members. Teens, especially, seem to benefit enormously from this interaction. More often than not the rebellious and destructive behavior often begins to diminish soon after homeschooling begins.
Freedom from the Hectic School Life
After the initial shock of leaving the school system has passed parents who home-school says they experience a real sense of freedom. With their lives no longer revolving around school hours, homework, and the school calendar, these families plan off-season vacations, visit parks and museums during the week, and live their lives according to what works for them. It really helps them in planning their lives as a family.
Better at Coping With Difficult Times
Life has surprises day in day out. Whether there's a new baby, an illness, a death in the family, or another obstacle or transition, home-schooling helps an individual cope during challenging periods. One is able to take time off from the school work and deal with the given changes the resume when done. After all they will miss nothing as they pick from where they left.
Better Leadership and Community Involvement
Kids who are homeschooled tend to be more actively involved in their communities than traditional students, according to KidsHealth.org. Reasons for this include receiving hands-on learning at places like museums and parks. According to the National Home Education Research Institute, adults who were home-schooled as children and/or teens are more likely to engage in community service projects attend public meetings and vote than those who were traditionally schooled.
Independent Thinking and Higher Self-Esteem
Since homeschoolers aren’t exposed to peer pressure and teasing in a classroom setting, a student is more likely to think for himself and create his own ideals. Incidentally, during school, a student can focus more on learning than other things such as his clothes, fitting in, or bullies. Family Education reports that homeschooled kids, especially girls in middle school, tend to have better self-esteem as they aren’t exposed to the judgment of peers. When you homeschool a child, his life isn’t dictated by trends; it’s dictated by the values that you instill. This is because outside interference is at a minimum.
Physical impacts of homeschooling on an individual include:
Less Busy Work
Homeschooled children can accomplish in a few hours what takes a typical classroom a week or more to cover. In a recent interview, John Taylor Gatto, New York City Teacher of the Year and a 26-year teaching veteran, said that in many classrooms less than one hour out of each school day is spent on "on task" learning. No wonder these kids have so much homework. With homeschooling, there is no homework, and if there is it is so minimal.
Well-Rested Kids
More and more studies are illustrating that sleep is vital to the emotional and physical well-being of kids, especially teens and preteens. The effects of early morning classes can be devastating to many children, especially those who are not morning people. With homeschooling, the individual is able to schedule the learning time with the tutor well, which is done within the day and thus no need to incorporate way too early classes.
Conclusion
Homeschooling has more advantages than the traditional schooling system. Homeschooled kids do well on standardized tests, are welcome at colleges and universities, and as adults, have a reputation for being self-directed learners and reliable employees. As much as the traditional setting may seem better, there is basically not much difference between the two. You may try it out and see how well it works for you.
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About the Author
Kelly Everson is an American author and having MA in English Literature. After spending time as a writer in some of Health Industries' best websites, she now works as an independent researcher and contributor for health news related website like Consumer Health Digest. In her spare time, she does research work regarding Beauty, skin care reviews and Women Health, Fitness and overall health issues, which acts as a fuel to her passion of writing. When she is not researching or writing, you can find Kelly staying active, whether it be practicing yoga or taking swimming classes. Connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.
