10 Reasons Why Homeschooling is Better than Traditional Schooling

Before you take the leap into homeschooling, you may be wondering if homeschooling is better than traditional schooling.

By traditional schooling, I mean public school, private school, and even other schools like charter schools.

Traditional schooling has been the mainstream choice since the 19th century. Homeschool has been around since the beginning of time, although it looked different than much of todays homeschool settings.

There are pros and cons to homeschooling and to traditional/public/private schooling. That being said, I am guessing you are here to read some homeschool motivation.

Let’s discuss some of the reasons why homeschooling is better than traditional schooling, at least for my family.

Reasons Why Homeschooling is Better Than Traditional Schooling

There are many positive and rewarding reasons to start homeschooling your child:

• More time with family
• Stronger sibling bonds
• Less time spent doing “school” during the day
• Ability to teach in your child’s learning style
• Control over what your child learns & when they learn these things
• Easier to learn about the “real world”
• Easier to control friend group
• Flexible schedule
• Safer environment
• Admission to colleges

More Time With Family

In a traditional school approach here in the United States, children in K through 12^th grade spend a significant amount of their lives away from the family.

An average amount of awake time in the day is 16-18 hours for school aged children and adults. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that school aged children spend an average of just 3-6 hours of awake time a day with their family. This means that only 16% (1/6th) -38% (about 1/3rd) of the day is spent with family.

States differ in the amount of hours required per school year of instruction. For example, Washington State requires 12,770 hours of instruction time from K-12^th grade. This is roughly 1,000 hours per year they are away from the family. This is the time they are at school and not counting toward the time it takes to travel to/from school each day.

Unless you do homework as a family, which is more unlikely in a traditional school approach, you also need to subtract the amount of hours your child will be alone doing homework.

If your decide to homeschool your children, you will gain that time back. That time will allow you to accurately say that you raised your family, not the teachers and staff at school who otherwise got more time with your kids.

Stronger Sibling Bonds

Many parents have shared that homeschooling their children has increased their childrens’ relationships with their siblings.

According to an article in the ACA, playing together as a family increases sibling bonds. With more time in the day to spend together, there is more time to play as a family. While there are more opportunities to fight in a homeschool setting, given more hours together, there is more time to find resolution.

Your children will still learn the value of conflict resolution at home and gain a lifelong best friend. A present parent will have interest in teaching conflict resolution to their own children, likely much more so than a teacher has the time or ability to do so. As we know in school, friends come and go quite easily as families move or kids are in different classes.

Learning to work with each other if they don’t naturally get along also prepares them well for the real world. As us adults know, there will be many times you will need to collaborate and work well with others, despite disagreements.

In school, children may only need to work with others in a school project that lasts anywhere from a few minutes to a few weeks. There is less time to work out conflicts and less intrinsic motivation to, as they won’t need to work with those they don’t get along with for very long.

Less Time Spent Doing School Work

Homeschooling is better than traditional schooling in the sense that homeschool lessons can be completed more quickly. When we account for recess, lunch, busy work, transportation, and the space between one class ending and another starting, much of the traditional school day is “used up.”

With homeschool, you can get straight to work and complete the day’s assignments typically within a few hours.

Many homeschooling families prefer to homeschool in the morning. By lunch, the rest of their day is free for play, extra-curriculars, or even rest.

Some homeschooling families even have parents working full-time during the day. They are able to set their age-appropriate children up with work during the day and then help teach when they get home from work.

Teaching Your Child in His/Her Learning Style

In a traditional school setting, teachers are required to teach a class upwards of 30 students at a time. It is unlikely that every student has the same learning style. Even if a teacher incorporates different learning styles, some students will find it harder to learn when their learning style isn’t being utilized.

This leads to wasted time for individual students.

With homeschool, parents can teach their children using their unique learning styles. This leads to better understanding and quicker mastery of skills and knowledge.

Teaching Your Child What You Want Them to Learn (& When)

Each family has their own set of morals and values. Often, traditional schooling will stray from a family’s morals and values. As a homeschooling mom myself, we incorporate a biblical point of view in our curriculum. However, even secular homeschooling families can teach values that aren’t taught in a traditional model.

There are also times when a school will teach your children something either before or after you want them to learn something. Common examples of this is sexual & reproductive health and about drug use. At home, you control when your children learn about these often-controversial topics.

Application to the “Real World”

One can easily argue that the whole point of education is to be prepared to provide for yourself and/or your future family in the “real world.” While traditional school can teach you skills and various topics, it is much easier to apply them to the real world in a homeschool setting.

Children will be with their parent(s) during the entire day, following along while they run errands. They will be able to observe and practice daily life skills such as interpersonal skills, budgeting, time management, how to schedule appointments, and more.

There is also more time to go on “field trips” as a homeschooling family. Traditional schooling utilizes a lot of resources to go on field trips, hiring staff and bus drivers, paying for the gasoline for a large bus, and paying for entry into the event, to name a few.

With homeschooling, families can pack up as usual and head out to events. Often times, event spaces will hold special days just for homeschooling families as well. This means less crowds & more personalized learning.

Easier to Control Friend Group

Peer pressure can be a wonderful thing but is often seen in a negative light. It all depends on who the peers are and how their morals and values shape their behavior.

In school, your children will likely interact with hundreds of classmates. Not every classmate will share the same values as your family. Child development research tells us that children are more influenced by their peers than their parents for the majority of their childhood.

In homeschool settings, parents are signing their children up for social events such as sports, enrichment studies, or play dates. With a parent near, they are able to observe who their children are interacting with and if it is producing good behaviors.

Homeschooling Often Provides a Safer Environment

A major reason why parents choose to homeschool is due to safety concerns in the traditional school setting. With school shootings on the rise and the always present bullying & abuse, parents find keeping their children at home the safer option.

As mentioned above, peer pressure can also lead to negative outcomes, many of which are safety concerns. At school, your children can be pressured into engaging in risky behaviors, such as violence, sexual activity, and drug use.

With suicide rates as high as they are, many parents worry about their children’s mental health. Homeschooling in a nurturing home can also provide a more protected space for mental health.

More Opportunities for Future Career Choice

As mentioned above, homeschooling is better than traditional schooling for gaining a more flexible schedule. This flexible schedule can allow for more opportunities to job shadow, volunteer, or even work as a teenager.

Many companies are open during “normal business hours” such as Monday through Friday 8 AM to 5 PM. If your homeschooled child is interested in dentistry, for example, there’s a greater chance they can job shadow in a dental clinic.

Students in a traditional setting would need to hurry over after school and can only catch the last hour or two of the work day.

With more and more jobs requiring experience, this can set your future adult apart from others.

College Admissions

Homeschooled students will not receive a GED or traditional high school diploma, but that won’t stop them from getting into college.

College admissions largely depend on standardized test scores such as the ACT and SAT, both of which homeschoolers can take and often score higher on than public school students.

College admissions also look for involvement in extracurricular activities. As already mentioned, there is more time in the day for extracurricular activities in a homeschool day.

Even Ivy League universities such as Harvard accept homeschool students. On Harvard’s application website, you will read that parents can create a high school transcript. You can even read about homeschooled students’ stories on getting accepted into Harvard.

To Conclude – Homeschooling is Better Than Traditional Schooling For My Family

In conclusion, more and more families find that homeschooling is better than traditional schooling. If your family has the ability to homeschool, I would strongly suggest it.

I’d love to know in the comments below, what other homeschool benefits have you seen in your family?