Home Schooling from Both Sides of the Fence
Kimberly Carlson
You need not dive in to homeschooling once and for all and feel if you fail in your attempt, your child can never go back to school again. The ideal way to introduce homeschooling to your child, and yourself, is to give a trial run during the summer as that is when you can see if both parties are cut out for this kind of instruction.
The trend in homeschooling is definitely growing in the United States and Canada with more and more families getting disgruntled with the public school system and opting to home school their child especially if he is brighter or weaker than the rest of the class.
Extracurricular activities, science experiments, music class, art fairs and the like are extra stuff you have to make the effort to do in home schooling so that your child gets a holistic approach to education not just books and pens.
Homeschooling can solve these problems provided you are willing to make the commitment to spend a lot of time with your child. Some parents love sending their kids to school as they feel they get some time on their own do stuff inside or outside the house.
If you opt for homeschooling not only will you be spending more time at the kitchen table doing lessons with your child, you will also be chauffeuring him or her to and from extracurricular activities that are essential for the complete development of a child.
Many parents like giving homeschooling a try in the summer when the days are longer, the children more relaxed and a lot to do outdoors as hands on activities. It also gives them a real experience of what materials and resources they would need to run a school at home. In addition to the books and materials, you also need to find options for child care for younger siblings during homeschooling instruction hours as well as extra help perhaps with household chores like cooking and laundry which you used to tackle while the kids were at school.
Does My Child Like It? - Trying out homeschooling for size is also a good way to judge how accepting your child is to being taught one on one as opposed to in a class of 20 kids. Some children love it, whereas others miss their friends and all the antics they get up to when in school. You can also judge if you have the stamina to teach your child or if you lose your patience quickly and all he is doing is plopping himself in front of the TV.
Homeschooling is a great option for many families, but it is not for everyone. Try before you buy.
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