An Argument Against Homeschooling

Reasons Not To Homeschool

An argument against homeschooling is that your child will "miss out" on all the things a school can provide.

At first sight, it seems one of the most powerful arguments that might put you off homeschooling.

My Dad, who went to Oxford University, would say: "There is plenty of time."

I would add that lovely proverb:

"When the pupil is ready, the teacher will appear."

Does your child really need to learn all those things now?

Poetry and Shakespeare are just two of the things I believe are often taught far too young in schools. Both require a level of maturity which mainly comes years later.

Schools usually succeed only in putting you OFF for life.

In fact, a large part of our curriculum has been centered on giving our children William and Catherine reasons to want to write, as you'll see in our homeschool kids tips for creative writing.

My Dad would agree. Since he was the best friend of the famous poet Philip Larkin, became a poet himself and read English at Oxford he has reason to know!

You can find out what it was like to be a child in one of the pioneering families in my free second generation homeschooling serial.

When it comes to high school, there's obviously more of an argument.

So it must be a relief to know that you can see some of the detailed research which proves how effective homeschooling is.

But the biggest arguments against homeschooling based on the what-your-child-is-missing scenario fades into the background if you ask yourself how much of what you learned in school was actually useful.

Did you really enjoy learning or was it more something you had to do in order to pass an exam?

A large part of the answer comes down to the teacher. And that's where homeschooling wins all the arguments.

You may not be the world's expert in everything (at least, I haven't met you yet if you are!), but the argument against homeschooling that because you lack knowledge, you can't teach, is nonsense.

Real learning, as we all know, is not top down – it comes from an inquiring mind searching out.

You may not know all the answers, but you know how to find them. And you can be in the happy position of learning with your child.

It's far more important that your child sees learning as something useful and enjoyable and builds up interests that will stay with them forever.

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Now, there are some instances where you might feel you really can't cope and there is a genuine argument against homeschooling.

Math and Physics are my sore points!

Particularly as I feel I will fall into the bad teacher trap of not understanding something myself and so threatened by arguments which stretch beyond the answers on the printed page.

In my case, I have a secret weapon. I pass the children over to my husband Rob!

We also use lots of simple ways to make Math fun, as you can see from all the board games we enjoy.

But, if you're similarly feeling inadequate and think your child will really miss out on something if you choose homeschool, I'm quite sure you'll find a way.

If you can't teach something yourself, maybe you know someone who can.

So they set up a sports session for homeschool children. Problem solved!

Let's take this the other way round.

How can a school possibly provide all the opportunities homeschool can?

When you look at it like that, the argument against homeschooling becomes a positive strength.

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Homeschooling › Pros And Cons › Arguments Against

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