Ever since graduating from Challenge, I am often asked questions like, “What are the benefits of homeschooling?”, “What did you get out of homeschooling?”, “Do you wish you had gone to public or private school?”
What Are the Benefits of Homeschooling?
Three benefits of homeschooling come to mind that caused me to enjoy my K-12 experience, and made it so I can emphatically say I am grateful to have been homeschooled. Keeping things simple, homeschooling provided me with the flexibility to pursue my interests, taught me how to study, and taught me how to socialize with others.
1. You Can Pursue Your Interests
The first benefit of homeschooling is that it allows students flexibility to pursue their own interests. Does your child want to be a scientist? Encourage them to find a local business to intern at while their friends are locked away in a school building. Does your family need a vacation? You don’t have to ask the school principal to take your kids to go see your family, visit a famous museum, or just relax by the ocean. Is your child struggling to learn a subject? Well, they don’t have to move to another classroom when the bell rings, so take all the time you need to help them understand that subject. This is the greatest benefit of homeschooling: encouraging your child to follow their God-given talents, interests, and passions.
2. You Learn How to Learn
The second benefit of homeschooling is that it teaches students how to learn. If you’re homeschooled, you learn how to be self-taught. You learn how to look up terms, find examples if you don’t understand something, or even seek out an expert who does whatever it is you’re researching for a living. After all, if you’re homeschooled, you aren’t controlled by someone else’s clock. I think realizing this eased my own transition from high school into college because I had the freedom and motivation to develop great study skills early in life. This is also why anyone can homeschool their child through high school. Your student will learn how to study. Sure, they need guidance, but you as their parent don’t have to be an expert in every subject. Rather, you just need to be an encourager of good study skills and habits.
3. You Learn How to Socialize
The third benefit of homeschooling is that it teaches students how to socialize. Yes, the exact question everyone wonders about is actually a benefit of being homeschooled. If your child is currently in public or private school, think about their interactions today. Did they hang around only other people their exact same age and socio-economic background? Homeschooling allows families to interact with adults and children of all different ages, demographics, and experiences, whether that’s in a local Classical Conversations community, through a homeschool co-op, on a field trip to a state museum, or at the grocery store. As a homeschool student, you aren’t forced into a room with only 30 peers and one adult, so you learn how to talk to and interact with new people of all backgrounds. My mom, Leigh Bortins, often tells a story about when she was once told that homeschoolers are weird. She answered, “Why? Because they look you in the eye when they talk to you?” It’s true, homeschool students are often well-spoken individuals capable of maintaining a conversation with anyone. And they look you in the eye when talking to you. It’s amazing.
What’s Your Favorite Benefit of Homeschooling?
Or, if you’re completely new to homeschooling, what is one thing you are most excited about? There are plenty of other homeschooling benefits, but these three resonate with me and with many other parents and students. Remember, live life to the fullest. That’s difficult to do when sitting at a desk eight hours a day and only moving when a bell tells you to move. You can, however, achieve this through homeschooling!
Not yet a Classical Conversations member and interested in our community-based approach to homeschooling? We’d love to hear from you! To learn more about us, click here.
